The Sun.
London, England, 1867-02-08 00:00:00

The Late William Dugan.

William Dargan, of whose death we have just

been informed by telegraph, was the son of a far-

mer in the county of Carlow. having received a
fair English education, he was placed in a surveyor's

office. He lately told a friend that he obtained the
appointment of surveyor for his native county, but
soon after resigned, from a feeling that he could
never in that position be able to advance himself as
he thought he should do if he were free to do

the best he could with Li 3 talents,

first important employment he obtained was under
Mr. Telford, in constructing the Holyhead road.
He there learnt the true art of road-making, then
applied for the first time by his chief, the secret of
which was raising the road in the middle that it
might have something of the strength of the arch,

and making proviion for the effectual draining off

of the surface water. When that work was finished

Mr. Dargan returned to Ireland and obtained seve-

ral small contracts on his own account, the most
important of which was the road from Dublin to

liowth, which was then the principal harbour con-
nected with Dublin. Soon after this he embarked
in a career of enterprise which, owing to the state
of the country at that time, and the nature of the
works which he achieved, will cause him to stand
alone as a leader of industrial progress in the his-
tory of Ireland. There was then on every hand a
cry for " encouragement" and protection. In the
name of patriotism people were invited to purchase
certain articles, not because they were good, but
because they were of Irish manufacture. To be
personally engaged in business of any kind was con-
sidered vulgar. It was a thing to which no " born
gentleman" would stoop, because if he did he would
be put in Coventry by his class. The most wealthy
manufacturer, no matter how well educated or gen-
tlemanly, if he attended at his counting-house, or
looked regularly after his business, would have been
blackballed at any second or third rate club in
Dublin. A gentleman might, indeed, amuse him-
self at some sort of work for the benefit of his
health; but if it were for the benefit of his purse,
and for so sordid a consideration as profit, he imme-
diately lost caste. Trade might be a good thing in
its way, but it should be left to men who were not
born with gentle blood Protestants of the middle
classes, who had no pretensions to such blood, had
imbibed from their " betters " much of the same
contempt for industry and the same respect for
idleness ; while the Roman Catholics had not yet
sufficiently recovered from the effects of the Penal
Code to enter with self-reliance and persistent
energy into any course of industrial enterprise. It
was under such circumstances that Mr. Dargan
applied himself to study the wants of his coun-
try, which, so far as the working classes were
concerned, had derived so little benefit from poli-
tical agitation. Such a man would naturally em-
brace any opportunity that opened for extending
the benefits of the railway system to Ireland.
Kingstown had superseded llowth as the Dublin
harbour. It was increasing fast in population, and
the traffic between it and the metropolis was im-
mense. It was carried on chiefly on outside cars
rattling away through stifling dust in summer and
splashing mud in winter. Mr. Dargan was then
a young man comparatively unknown, except to a
circle of appreciating friends. He inspired them
with his own confidence; a company was formed,
and he became the contractor of the first railway in
Ireland—the Dublin and Kingstown line—a most
prosperous undertaking, which has always paid
better than any other line in the country. For
several years it stood alone. People were afraid
to venture much in railway speculation. Canal.
conveyance was still in the ascendant ; a company
was formed for opening up the line of communica-
tion between Lough Erne and Belfast, and Mr.
Dargan became the contractor of the Ulster Canal,
which was regarded as a signal triumph of engineer-
ing and constructive ability. Other great works
followed in rapid succession; first the Dublin and
Drogheda Railway, then the Great Southern and
Western, and the Midland Great Weatern lines.
In fact the only important lines in Ireland with
which Mr. Dargan was not connected are the Lon-
donderry and Enniskillen and the Londonderry and
Coleraine, which were constructed by Mr. William
M'Cormack. At the time of the Irish Exhibition

in 1853 Mr. Dugan had constructed over 600 miles
of railway, and he had then contracts for 200 miles
more. All his lines have been admired for the ex-
cellence of the materials and workmanship.
Considering how completely untrained Irish
workmen were at that time, and what perversity
had been shown by some of the trades, it is a re-
markable—indeed, a wonderful—fact that Mr.Dar-
gan in all his vast undertakings never had a for-
midable strike to contend with, and, though the
ablest workmen flocked to him from all parts of the
country, his gangs were never demoralised, as they
have been under other contractors. Even the
navvies looked up to him with gratitude as a pub-
lic benefactor. lle paid the highest wages, and
paid punctually as the clock struck. So perfect was
the organisation he effected, so firmly were all his
arrangements carried out, and so justly and kindly
did he deal with the people, that he was enabled to
fulfil to the letter every one of the numerous en-
gagements with which he had entered. The result
was that he was held in the highest respect by the
whole nation, his credit was unbounded, and, as he
once said at a public meeting, he " realised very
fast." At one time he was the largest railway pro-
prietor in the country, and one of its greatest capi-
talists. The amount of business he got through was
something marvellous. The secret of his success, as
he once said himself, consisted in the selection of
agents on whose capacity and integrity he could rely,
and in whom he took care not to weaken the sense
of responsibility by interfering with the details of
their business, while his own energies were reserved
for comprehensive views and general operations.
When his mind was occupied with the arrangements
of the Exhibition of 1853 Ile had in his hands con-

tracts to the aggregate amount of nearly two mil-
lions sterling. To his personal character and influ-
ence that Exhibition was mainly due, and, although
many of the first men in the country, including the
highest nobility, co-operated with alacrity, and aided
with liberal contributions, he was the man who found
the capital. He began by placing £30,000 in the
hands of the committees, and before it was opened
in May, 1853, his advances reached nearly £lOO,OOO,
of which his loss amounted to £20,000. After the
Exhibition a public meeting was convened by the
Lord Mayor, in compliance with a requisition signed
by 40 peers, six Protestant Bishops, 15 Roman
Catholic Bishops, 49 members of Parliament, and a
host of magistrates and professional gentlemen,
amounting to 2,200 names. From this meeting re-
sulted a suitable monument toMr. Dargan—the Irish
National Gallery, erected on Leinster Lawn, with a
fine bronze statue in front looking out upon Merrion-
square. The Queen graciously honoured Irish in-
dustry in the person of its great chief. Her Majesty
offered him a title, which he declined. She shook
hands with him publicly at the opening of the
Exhibition, and with the Prince Consort paid
a visit to Mr. and Mrs. Dargan. Wishing to en-
courage the growth of flax, Mr. Dugan took a tract
of laud in Clare or Kerry, which he devoted to its
culture ; but owing to some mismanagement the
enterprise entailed a heavy loss. He also became a
manufacturer, and set some mills working in the
neighbourhood of Dublin. But that business did
not prosper. Latterly he devoted himself chiefly to
the working and extension of the Dublin, Wicklow,
and Wexford Railway, of which he was chairman.
About a year ago he had a fall from his horse by
which his system was so shaken that his recovery
was for SOW time doubtful. Since that he had an-
other fall, but not so serious. Probably the ill state
of his health brought on a confusion in his affairs,
which recently resulted in his stopping payment, and
in an arrangement with his creditors, though his
assets, it is confidently said, will pay much more
than 20s. in the pound. His embarrassments, how-
ever, seem to have deeply affected his health and
spirits, and brought on a disease to which his power-
ful constitution has succumbed.---71mcs.

POLAND.—A new ukase abolishes, from the date
of April 17, in the kingdom of Poland, the use of Polish
weights and measures, and replaces them by Russian.