But it would be unfair to estimate Dr. Buchanan from his pulpit appearances only. Listening to his discourses from the pew, one can form but a faint conception of the greatest merits—the strongest points—of the minister of the Free College Church. It is in the ecclesiastical Forum that Dr. Buchanan is found most in his element; there, like Mark Tapley, he comes out the stronger, the greater the pressure and opposition brought to bear upon him. No man in the Free Church is more completely "posted up" in all the questions that come before the Assembly—no man is more entitled to rank in that body as the Rupert of debate. In the Glasgow Presbytery he takes a leading part in the discussion of all prominent questions; and no member is listened to with greater attention. It is not too much to say that, although he may meet with a foeman worthy of his steel in the General Assembly, he has not in the more circumscribed sphere of the local Presbytery, a single rival who is in any sense his match. The late Dr. Gibson was frequently accustomed to tackle him, and perhaps he sometimes did so successfully; but while the latter was undoubtedly an able debater, he lost ground from his impetuosity of temper—an infirmity to which Dr. Buchanan never gives way. In all circumstances he is cool, calculating, unruffled; he measures the full meaning and effect of every sentence; he can be fierce and withering, and still maintain a calm and composed demeanour. The gladiatorial conflicts in which these two combatants took part were often a source of rare amusement even outside the pale of the Presbytery, and, inasmuch as they were both well fortified with weighty and telling arguments, the spectacle was not always unedifying. On the question of Union, as is well known, they took diametrically opposite views. Many a passage of arms passed between them on this questio vexata, while the younger and less athletic backers surrounded the arena, waiting the shock with eager anticipation; for
"When Greek meets Greek, then comes the tug of war."
But the one has been taken and the other left; and no man, we believe will be more ready to do justice to the memory of his deceased fellow-confrère than Dr. Buchanan himself.
We have specially mentioned the question of Union, because of late years Dr. Buchanan has closely and completely identified himself with it, and he is pledged to see it carried through. He has made eloquent and effective speeches in favour of Union at almost every meeting of the General Assembly held since it was brought on the tapis; and only last year he opened the debate in an address that has seldom been equalled for sound argument and rhetorical effect. It would be superfluous to make any selections or quotations from the rev. gentleman's speeches on this subject; his views are already well known to all who take an interest in the cause for which he pleads, and before that cause has reached its final consummation it is more than likely that he will again be at Ephesus, fighting on its behalf.
The soundness of his judgment and the eminently dispassionate views which he is able to take of all questions laid before him are so fully recognised by his brethren in the Free Church that Dr. Buchanan is consulted on nearly every matter that relates to the welfare of that body. He can discriminate so nicely and so fairly on the merits of any one question submitted for his adjudication—his judicial faculty is so highly developed, that some of those who know him best have hazarded the prediction that, had he been trained for the bar instead of for the pulpit, he would by this time have held the position of Lord President of the Court of Session. Dr. Buchanan is a man of such varied gifts and accomplishments that he would have shone in any sphere, and in the interests of Christianity it is a source of congratulation rather than otherwise that he chose the pulpit for his profession. In this connection we may mention the fact that Dr. Buchanan has spoken at many public meetings of a moral, social, and political, as well as of an ecclesiastical character. One of his last appearances on the City Hall platform was on the occasion of a meeting held last year to take measures for providing additional church accommodation in Glasgow—a desideratum for which he has often and eloquently pleaded.
As an author, Dr. Buchanan's name will be handed down to posterity—at least so far as his own church is concerned. His "Ten Year's Conflict" is the only complete and authoritative record of the causes and effects of the Disruption that has yet been published. He has also published an able and scholarly work on the "Ecclesiastes;" while his leisure hours on a holiday tour in the Mediterranean have been turned to advantage by his publication of an interesting volume entitled "Clerical Furlough."
MR. ROBERT NAPIER.
In that magnificent work, "London: a Pilgrimage," for which we are indebted to the joint labours of Gustave Doré and Blanchard Jerrold, allusion is made to the decadence of the shipbuilding trade on the Thames, and the rapidly accumulating growth of the same industry on the Clyde. The contrast is startling, and although it may be gratifying to the pride of those who are identified with the northern river, it must create sad and humiliating emotions in the breasts of others who have seen the "silvery Thames" shorn so completely of her ancient glory and prestige as a mart of naval architecture. The Clyde has not directly made capital out of the Thames, but the progress of the one has undoubtedly been stimulated by the misfortunes of the other. It is impossible to ignore the fact that the Clyde possessed many advantages over its rival. Its immediate proximity to almost illimitable fields of iron and coal, the easy terms upon which shipbuilders could thus obtain their materials, and the lower wages paid to workmen on the Clyde, had undoubtedly an important influence in securing for the latter its exceptionally prosperous career; but there were, at the same time, other drawbacks to contend with, including a miserably inadequate draught of water, which in the early history of naval architecture, were only surmounted by patient continuance in well-doing, by unwearied energy, and by the most advanced and economical application of the mechanical arts on which shipbuilding is dependent. These conditions were present on the Clyde in a greater degree than on the Thames, and hence the fame of the one has been eclipsed by that of the other. Into all parts of the civilised world the fame of the Clyde has been carried through the medium of her shipbuilding works. We still continue to lead the van in this industry, being so far ahead of all other seats of naval architecture that by comparison they dwarf into insignificance and "pale their ineffectual fires." Let the figures speak for themselves. In 1863, the new tonnage launched on the Clyde was 124,000 tons, while at the end of that year 140,000 tons additional were on the stocks or under contract. In 1871 no less than 196,229 were launched, and 301,809 tons were on the stocks or under contract. Comparing these results with those attained on the Wear—perhaps the greatest rival to the Clyde in this particular industry—it appears that the aggregate tonnage launched during 1863 was 70,040, and during 1871 only 81,903, or in round numbers 11,000 tons additional were launched on that river. It is impossible in the course of this article to follow the history and analyse the causes that have contributed so materially to promote the growth of iron shipbuilding on the Clyde, but it is equally impossible to trace the lines of Robert Napier's biography without affording a clue to this marvellous progress.
On the eighteenth day of June, 1791, Mr. Napier was born in the town of Dumbarton. His father was a blacksmith, and early imparted to his son a knowledge of the rudiments of that business, so that Robert was not far wrong when he quaintly remarked that he was born with the hammer in his hand. The elder Napier occupied, as his forefathers had done before him, a prominent position in their little town, being a freeman with a prosperous business, which enabled him to gratify his anxiety to give his son the benefits of a sound practical education. Ultimately the latter was apprenticed to his father with the view of following out the trade of a smith. When he was twenty years of age, young Robert, determined to fight his way in a less limited sphere, removed to the Scottish metropolis, where he was employed by Robert Stevenson, the eminent lighthouse engineer. Latterly, however, he returned to Dumbarton, and after spending a short time longer in the service of his father, he permanently settled down in Glasgow, where he started business on his own account in the month of May, 1815. We are not aware that Mr. Napier had at this time any intention of eventually going in for marine architecture. The prospects of that industry were by no means so assured and encouraging as they have since become. Bell's Comet had been launched three years before, but it was still regarded even by practical men as a doubtful venture. It was one of those "inventions born before their time," which, according to the Emperor Napoleon III., "must necessarily remain useless until the level of the common intellect rises to comprehend them." Thanks, however, to the co-operation of Mr. David Napier, a cousin of Robert's, who assisted him in the construction of the Comet, and took a lively personal interest in the advancement of steam navigation, Bell was enabled to achieve a permanent triumph, and the subject of these remarks, from the same cause, had his attention turned at an early period to the revolution which was being silently but surely evolved out of Bell's achievement. For some years, however, Robert Napier had to fight an uphill battle with the world. His first place of business was on a very moderate scale in Greyfriars Wynd, a place to which it has since imparted an almost classical interest, and his orders were at first so few that they could easily be overtaken by himself with the assistance of two apprentices. His experience was eventually that of the great bulk of mankind, verifying the well-known aphorism—labor omnia vincit. In the course of time he was encouraged to undertake the general work of an engineer, and his removal from Greyfriars Wynd to Camlachie Foundry afforded greater scope for the extension of his operations. While here, he undertook a number of tolerably large contracts, one of them being for the pipes required by the Glasgow Water Company when bringing the supply from the upper reaches of the Clyde. The first land engine made by Mr. Napier is still in use in Mr. Boak's spinning factory at Dundee. His first essay at marine engineering was a contract undertaken in 1823, to build the engines for the Leven, a small paddle-steamer that used to ply between Glasgow and Dumbarton. When the Leven had been "put on the shelf," after having served its day, the engines were taken from her and removed to the Vulcan Foundry in Washington Street, to which Mr. Napier subsequently removed, and where these interesting memorials of the early history of a trade which has since assumed such gigantic proportions may still be viewed.