About 15 years ago Mr. Watson's services were called into requisition in connection with the winding up of the Ayrshire Iron Company, of which he was a shareholder. The bankruptcy of this company, as many gentlemen on 'Change will well remember, was induced by the mismanagement of its affairs. The works of the company were extended far too rapidly, and, in order to compel business, iron was bought upon credit and sold for cash at a ruinous sacrifice. The result was that the concern became insolvent, with liabilities to the extent of £250,000, and without a copper in the shape of assets except the works at Dalry. It was a terrible dilemma, and very few of the shareholders were equal to dealing with the emergency. Mr. Watson, however, undertook the labour of extricating the company from its awkward position, and his efforts were ably seconded by those of the late Mr. James Dennistoun, and Mr. Mansfield, accountant, Edinburgh, assisted by one or two other gentlemen in Glasgow. On the bankruptcy of the company being announced, Mr. Watson called a meeting of subscribers, at which the late Mr. W. Brown, of the Standard office, was appointed to act as secretary. Time was allowed by the creditors, the money was called up by separate instalments, and with the aid of £60,000 borrowed from the British Linen and the Bank of Scotland Banking Companies the name of the concern was kept out of the Gazette. After a period of five or six years the whole affairs of the company were wound up, and the plant and premises were disposed of to the Messrs. Baird, of Gartsherrie, for the sum of £20,000, or fully £70,000 less than they had originally cost. Mr. Watson's efforts, his patient plodding industry and commercial skill in connection with this insolvency, were greatly commended at the time; and, indeed, as the affairs of the company were in a state of the greatest confusion, it required more than ordinary tact and perseverance to place them on an intelligible and proper footing.
It would be unpardonable to omit reference to Mr. Watson's intimate connection with the railway system in the West of Scotland. He was the first interim secretary of the Glasgow and Ayrshire Railway, which was promoted in 1836, and he continued to act in that capacity until 1839. Afterwards he became secretary of the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway, in the promotion of which he was associated with Mr. Andrew Bannatyne, the late Dean of Faculty, and the first solicitor to the company. It will be remembered that the first bill of the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway was thrown out of Parliament in 1837 owing to the strong opposition raised against it. In 1838, however, the bill was reintroduced, and passed—Lord Wm. Bentinck, the then member for Glasgow, being chairman of the committee. Ultimately Mr. Watson relinquished the office of railway secretary, but he continued to be associated in the management of the Edinburgh and Glasgow and Glasgow and South-Western lines with such men as the late Mr. M'Call, of Daldowie, chairman of the Ayrshire company; Mr. Fleming, of Claremont; Mr. T. D. Douglas, Mr. Leadbetter, and Mr. A. Smith, who now lives on the Gareloch, and who, we believe, is the sole survivor of the original directorate, with the exception of our townsman, Sir James Campbell. Prior to the establishment of the direct railway communication with England, Mr. Watson was concerned with the projection of a line of steamers between Ardrossan and Fleetwood—the railway only having been carried the length of Sir Hesketh Fleetwood's estate at that time. By means of this arrangement, in which Mr. Watson had the cordial co-operation of the directors of the Ayrshire Railway, passengers leaving London at 10 o'clock forenoon could break the journey, and obtain the relief of a night's rest in the boat, arriving in Glasgow at 12 o'clock next day. The vessels on this station were Her Majesty and the Royal Consort, but they were discontinued when the direct line to Carlisle was opened up.
The first model lodging-houses established in Glasgow, about 25 years ago, owe their existence to the efforts of Mr. Watson, assisted by ex-Provost Blackie, who, with a number of other directors, have since carried on these establishments, very much to the benefit of the community at large. There are altogether three of these model lodging-houses, situated respectively in Carrick Street, M'Alpine Street, and Greendyke Street, and the very large extent to which they have been taken advantage of by those for whose benefit they were built is the best possible justification of their origin.
Mr. Watson's services in connection with the various charitable institutions in the city are too well known to require comment or eulogium at our hands. Both in season and out of season he has always been ready to aid the dissemination of charity and philanthropy, and perhaps no gentleman in the city is more closely or more generally identified with institutions of this kind.
In 1863 Mr. Watson commenced his municipal career, having succeeded Mr. Thomas Buchanan as representative of the Eighth Ward. Two years afterwards he was appointed a bailie, Mr. Blackie, then Lord Provost, having invited his co-operation and assistance in the carrying out of the City Improvement Scheme, which was then in process of being hatched. Mr. Watson was the first deputy-chairman of the City Improvement Trust, and he continued to fulfil that onerous and important office up to the period of his election as Lord Provost, in November 1871. From the very outset he has been a staunch and eloquent advocate of the improvement scheme, against which, however, there was a great outcry raised, and maintained for some time after its adoption by the Council. We may here notice that the scheme embraced portions of the city covering between 50 and 60 acres, and containing a population of nearly 60,000—being equal to the entire population of Glasgow and its suburbs 100 years ago. The valuation of the property to be acquired amounted to £1,200,000, divided into many small holdings. In the summer of 1865 the preliminaries were adjusted and in the winter of that year application was made to Parliament for the requisite powers, which were obtained in the session of 1866. The Trustees were authorised to acquire the property within five years, to levy an assessment on the inhabitants not exceeding a sixpence per pound of rental, with further power to assess for ten years at threepence per pound to meet the expense for the new streets, and to provide for payment of the interest of the outlay as a whole. Power was also obtained to purchase ground for a public park in the north-east quarter of the city at an expenditure of £40,000. Up to the present time the Commissioners have spent £900,000; and so successfully have the affairs of the Trust been managed that there is now enough of revenue to meet the expenditure, while a large extent of ground remains on hand to be disposed of, so that it is expected the cost of the scheme to the public will be even less than the original estimate. The total properties demolished by the Improvement Trustees up to the 1st December 1871 number 1287 houses, with a gross rental of £7367. Of the usefulness and sanitary importance of the Improvement Scheme, even those who were its most determined opponents can scarcely now entertain a doubt. By the demolition of badly-ventilated and miserable dwellings in the lowest parts of the town, the Trustees have quickened the supply of low-rented houses for the working classes, so that within the last two years there have been erected within the municipal boundaries 1728 houses of one apartment, 3921 of two apartments, and 1368 of three apartments. It is not too much to say that from the outset, or at least since Mr. Blackie left the Council, Bailie Watson has been the head and front of the Improvement Scheme. He has taken the utmost pains both in and out of the Council to inculcate its obvious advantages, and it is largely due to his lucid and practical explanations that the public has been reconciled to the Act.
When the exigencies of commercial misfortune compelled the late Lord Provost Arthur to retire from the active discharge of his official duties, in the autumn of last year, Mr. Watson was at once appointed acting Chief. He continued to discharge the duties of the office in a satisfactory and efficient manner until the November election, when he was requested by the unanimous voice of the Council to allow himself to be nominated for election to the place of Chief Magistrate. The honour, we believe, was none of Mr. Watson's own seeking. His time had more than an adequate demand made upon it in other ways; but he was induced to set aside his own large and important business for the good of the city. During the short time he has already sat in the Chief Magistrate's seat, Mr. Watson has exhibited a marked capacity for public business; and it is not too much to predict that his administration will be signalised as one of the most successful and progressive in the annals of the municipality.
REV. DR. WILLIAM ANDERSON.
The Scottish Pulpit since the time of the Reformation has always been able to reckon upon some of the most eloquent and thoughtful preachers of the age. It seems as if the genius of Scotchmen tended towards ecclesiasticism. Religion, or, rather, theology—for there is an essential difference between the two—impregnates their whole existence, and mere children are imbued with pronounced views upon the minutiæ of doctrinal distinctions, when they might be supposed to know only the practical bearings of hygienic laws. The Shorter Catechism instead of cricket and football—the Confession of Faith instead of music or other lighter accomplishments—have been inculcated by the early fathers of the Presbyterian Church. Hence the Scottish character is instinct with gravity, and pervaded by an earnestness that is strangely at variance with the levity and looseness common to nearly all ranks and conditions of Englishmen. But while their peculiar form of training has thus exercised a powerful influence in moulding the character and stamping the genius of the Scottish people with the sign manual of dogmatism, otherwise called the perfervidum Scotorum, it has also assisted to secure for Scottish preachers a world-wide reputation for eloquence and power. Flippancy and sciolism may pass muster at the bar, or even in the Senate House; but to be effective, the pulpit must possess in a high degree the qualities of earnestness and an ability to "prove all things." Few men have been more strongly fortified with these essentials to success than Dr. William Andersen, minister of John Street United Presbyterian Church, Glasgow. Born in the year 1799, Dr. Anderson is now in his seventy-third year. His father was the Rev. John Anderson, Relief Minister in Kilsyth, who lived to the great age of ninety-two years, and was in some respects equally as remarkable as his more celebrated son. Conspicuous for his extensive spiritual knowledge, vigorous mind, and strong logical power, the father of Dr. Anderson took a prominent part in the religious controversies of the early part of the present century. Besides William he had other two sons, both of whom became ministers of the U.P. Church, and one of whom became his father's assistant and successor. After receiving the rudiments of his education at the parish school, Dr. Anderson entered Glasgow University, where he proved more than an average student. It is worthy of remark, too, that he laboured under difficulties as a student, which, although by no means uncommon in our own day, would likely tend to retard the progress of his studies. His father having only a limited stipend could ill afford to provide for the expenses contingent on the education of his numerous family, and we find that William was not above eking out his limited resources while at the University by undertaking private tuition. Almost immediately after he was licensed as a minister of the gospel, Dr. Anderson received a call to John Street U.P. Church, Glasgow—his first and only charge. This was in the year 1822 when William was only in his twenty-third year. At the time he entered upon the charge of John Street Church, the congregation was in anything but a flourishing condition. Rent by dissentions from without and from within, it was in a lamentably disorganised state, and presented a decidedly uninviting sphere for the maiden efforts of a young and inexperienced minister. But William Anderson was neither disheartened nor dismayed. He approached the work of reconstructing and assimilating his congregation in a spirit of love and charity, which, mingled with tact and firmness, succeeded in subduing the anarchy and mismanagement that had previously prevailed. His victory over the turbulent spirits under his charge was as signal and complete as that he had achieved over the Presbytery, which in March, 1822, consented to his ordination, after having threatened to ostracise him on the ground that he would persist, under all circumstances, in reading his discourses. But that which George Gilfillan has happily described as the "tender mercies of a Scotch Presbytery," did not induce him to turn aside from his purpose, or to make an abject and inglorious submission. From his first start in life, Dr. Anderson showed that he not only held opinions of his own, but unless there was some cogent reason to the contrary, he clung to them tenaciously. So it was with the casus belli of manuscripts in the pulpit. Failing to understand that the use of "the paper" could interfere in the remotest degree with the due and proper effect of the pulpit, and knowing that he could not do either himself or his congregation adequate justice by extempore preaching, Dr. Anderson continued to adhere to written sermons, until the Presbytery at last gave way, leaving him master of the situation. The feud between Dr. Anderson and his Presbytery has been described by himself as "the eleven months of anguish to which I was subjected by the prosecution—I do not say persecution—of the Presbytery for my using my manuscript in the pulpit, and for certain alleged errors and improprieties in my preaching, such as—that in two of my sermons I had quoted Shakespeare." This contretemps proves that the Presbyterian Church was as strongly opposed to the use of manuscripts in the pulpit half a century ago as it is now—or was until lately—to the introduction of organs as accessories of public worship. Fortunately, we have fallen on more tolerant and tolerable times.
If the interference of the Presbytery had no other effect, it tended to secure for the subject of these remarks an exceptional amount of public attention at a very early period of his ministerial career. People were naturally solicitous to improve their acquaintance with the young man, little more than out of his teens, who had had the hardihood to brave the discipline and upset the prejudices of a whole Presbytery on a question which, at that time of day, was considered to be of vital importance. Contrary, in all probability, to his own expectations, Anderson woke up one fine morning to find himself famous. Although there were few outward and visible signs of approval with his rebellious spirit, he yet retained in secret the countenance of many colleagues in the ministry, who had long pined for a freer and more tolerable ecclesiastical atmosphere, and the issue of Dr. Anderson's independence had the proximate result of achieving their release from one of the most grievous and galling fetters imposed upon them by the exacting and puritanical spirit of the times—a spirit which, however well it may have answered the requirements of a less enlightened age, was an insult to the freedom of action that belonged to the nineteenth century. While the Presbytery was left in anything but a dignified position, Dr. Anderson could confidently say, "Veni, vidi, vici!" It was the old story over again. It was not one of the pillars in Israel—it was one of the weak things of the Church that was chosen to confound the mighty.