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THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



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reign. In 1844, he spent a long time each Monday in the show, 

 talking with the manufacturers, and the leading men among them 

 were likewise made welcome at the palace. The influence of a 

 man of enlightenment could not have been otherwise than favour- 

 able; and it is very likely, as said, that Louis Philippe often gave 

 good practical suggestions to the manufacturers with whom he 

 talked. Thej', too, had the opportunity of showing the legislative 

 evils under which they laboured, and of impressing a powerful 

 protector of industrial interests, as they are understood in France 

 — that is to say, of industrial monopoly. Louis Napoleon, in whom 

 the love of patronage is strong, likewise spends his Mondays at 

 the Exposition. 



The admission is wholly free, all but Thursdays, when there is a 

 charge of one franc; but that is given to charities. Thus the 

 great feeling is kept up, that this is an institution for the benefit 

 of all, and that all have an interest in the national industry and 

 national welfare. 



For the Exposition of 1849, a grant of 24,000/. was made to the 

 Minister of Agriculture and Trade. In each department or shire 

 of France, a committee was named by the Prefect to settle the 

 claims of exhibitors. This committee, or jury, as it is likewise 

 named, was on this occasion specially authorised to point out, in a 

 written report, "the services rendered to agriculture or industry 

 by masters, foremen, or workmen." From the head town of each 

 department the objects exhibited were carried, at the cost of the 

 government, to Paris, and were so sent back. A "central jury" 

 was named by the Minister to judge to whom rewards should be 

 given. Their report was sent to the Minister, and by him to the 

 President of the Commonwealth, by whom the rewards were be- 

 stowed. 



On the Central Jury we find the following names : — Arago, 

 Blanqui, Michel Chevalier, Charles Dupin, Dumas, Mathieu, 

 Payen, VVolowski, and other men of science; LeOn Feuchere and 

 Fontaine, architects, and Firmin Didot. About half the members 

 are men of science. As so many leading manufacturers are exhi- 

 bitors, of course they are thereby excluded from the Central 

 Jury. 



The department of the Seine, in which Paris is situated, natu- 

 rally sends by far the greater proportion. Of 4,352 exhibitors, 

 2,856 are from that department. From the Orne, 222; the Lower 

 Seine (Rouen), 117; the North (Lille and the cotton districts), 

 119; and the Rhone (Lyon), 100. None others come near these 

 numbers. Most of the departments send very few articles. The 

 difficulties of carriage are a great hindrance in France, which 

 would not be felt in England ; indeed, no part of this island, or 

 the neighbouring one, would be without its representative at an 

 exposition. 



That this institution has a favourable effect on French industry, 

 no one who sees it can doubt. It makes the manufacturers fully 

 aware, so far as France is concerned, of what they can do. Some 

 can see in what they are behindhand, and why; and to all there is 

 the moti\'e of exertion. Public fame is awarded to those who do 

 well; nor does fame end with a medal or a sheet of paper, — but the 

 well-deserving manufacturer, becoming better known, has an im- 

 mediate reward in the demand for his productions. Many new 

 articles of manufacture have thus been prominently brought for- 

 ward, and obtained a publicity %vhich would otherwise have been 

 long in coming. Many clever mechanics have found their interests 

 advanced by having the opportunity of showing their inventions 

 before the eyes of the manufacturers and capitalists of all France. 

 Indeed, the very encouragement of genius, which we here sigh for, 

 is there found, and honour and wealth become more surely the lot 

 of the meritoi'ious. 



If France, notwithstanding such an institution, does not go 

 beyond us, and if we, with tlie want of it, are still flourishing, it 

 does not arise from this one circumstance. The inborn energy of 

 Englishmen, exerted during hundreds of years, has created an 

 enterprising and independent people, whom bad government has 

 not been able to depress. The want of true freedom in France 

 has created a people, listless — whom no public reward can fully 

 encourage, because vicious legislation fetters and trammels them 

 at every step. In England, a bad government does not do its duty 

 in encouraging and upholding merit: in France, a bad government 

 goes beyond the proper sphere of government by interfering with 

 the personal action of individuals. In both cases the error is great 

 and threatening — here it is an error of omission, there of conmiis- 

 sion. The fruits are different, because an Englishman is still free 

 to work for himself, and because a Frenchman is tranmielled by a 

 vicious police, which deprives him of energy of action and inde- 

 pendence of character. Thus these characteristics so common in 

 England are rare in France. 



We shall now transcribe a few notes as to the career of some of 

 the exhibitors; not taking those who have begun as capitalists, 

 but rather those who have devoted themselves to mechanics. 



M. Gustave Hallet, machinist, at Paris, left in 1835, the School 

 of the Industrial Arts at Paris, in which he had studied; and hav- 

 ing been employed as a clerk and assistant in factories, set up in 

 1840 on his own account, as a meclianical engineer and millwright. 

 He now exhibits, for the first time, a high-pressure engine, of 

 3-horse power, with some ingenious modifications. 



M. Farcot was a pupil of M. Achille Collas, and was afterwards 

 brought up with Jecker, brothers, manufacturers of marine instru- 

 ments. He was afterwards in M. Perrier's engineering works, at 

 Chaillot, with Mr. Edwards, the elder, hut being discharged, was 

 employed by M. Albony, a locksmith. Thence he became the first 

 workman of M. Christian, at that time Director of the Conserva- 

 toire des Arts et Metiers, By him, Farcot was employed in the 

 establishment of machine works in the Hospice des Quinze Vingts, 

 at Paris, and at Argenteuil, and constructed a number of machines 

 for the colonies. In 1823, he left M. Christian, and with his own 

 savings and his wife's money set up a factory as a millwright. 

 Besides other machinery, he constructed, in 1827, a great bakerj'. 

 At each Exposition froni 1834, he has been an e.xhibitor, and from 

 a yearly manufacture of engines of 36-horse power, he has reached 

 a yearly supply of 240-horse power. 



In 1813, there was no dyery at Roubaix. M. Descat-Crouzet 

 set up one on a small scale for cotton yarn and piece goods, and by 

 1815 he had gained some reputation in the department of the 

 North. His eldest son, Theodore, a lad of fifteen, powerfully 

 helped him ; he was successively workman, foreman, and clerk, 

 and afterwards became head of the house, in which his brotliers 

 were partners. In 1825, English goods were driving French goods 

 out of the market, as our manufacturers had discovered new pro- 

 cesses. It was important to learn them, and M. Theodore Descat 

 effected this, to the great satisfaction of the manufacturers of the 

 department ; and by successive experiments and journeys, by 

 money and by skill, he has kept up his fame. In 1832, he set up 

 a large dye-work at the bridge of Broency. On him the progress 

 and prosperity of the town of Roubaix has depended, and the 

 Departmental Jury express themselves in the strongest terms of 

 gratitude towards him. His dye-works Iiave steam-engines of 

 80-horse power, and all the necessary machinery; and a large vil- 

 lage has sprung up around. He employs 850 workmen, and his 

 transactions are 80,000/. yearly. 



M. Tesse Petit was foreman of a cotton-spinning factory at 

 Paris, the head of which gained a prize at the Exposition of 1819. 

 In 1820, he set up a small factory of 1,290 spindles. In 1834, he 

 gained a silver medal. He had then only 90 work-people. In 

 1839, he set up a steam-engine. He has liow 160 work-people in 

 the factory, and 80 out of doors, and 15,800 spindles. 



These examples will show how men get on in France, and tlie 

 danger in which we are from such rivals. An account of. some of 

 the French establishments will still further illustrate the state of 

 French industry. 



Messrs. Charles Derosne and Cail are great engineers. They 

 employ altogether 2,600 men, and turn out locomotives and railway 

 plant and sugar machinery for France and the colonies, besides 

 steam-engines, mill-work, and coining apparatus. They ship to 

 Java, Brazil, Mexico, Surinam, Egypt, Spain, Cuba, Bourbon, 

 Guadaloupe, Martinique, Russia, and Austria. They have made 

 160 locomotives. The firm have establishments at Paris, Grenelle, 

 Denain in the North, Brussels, Amsterdam, and Guadaloupe. The 

 motive power is 45-horse power at Paris, J 5 at Grenelle, 60 at 

 Denain, and 15 at Brussels. Among the plant is, at Paris and 

 Grenelle, 107 forges, 278 lathes, planing, and boring machines, and 

 three foundry furnaces ; at Denain, 114 forges, 45 lathes, &c. ; at 

 Brussels, 42 ftirges, 36 lathes, &c. Charles Derosne, the founder 

 of the firm, died in 1846, in consequence of his repeated visits to 

 the West Indies. 



Messrs. Petin and Gaudet, of Rive de Gier, set up their factory 

 in 1839, and were the first in France to use the steam-hammer for 

 forging. At that time, wrought-iron boiler plates for marine en- 

 gines were only to be had in England, and the price was very high. 

 Paddle-wheel shafts cost 6/. per cwt., and now they are delivered 

 at 2/., and the firm supply most of the leading houses of France. 



The factory at Gratfenstaden, on the Lower Rhine, belongs to a 

 societe anonyme, and was set up in 1838. It has 82 lathes, 60 forges, 

 3 foundry furnaces, and employs, when at full work, 700 or 800 

 men, using 1,100 tons of metal, and 1,600 tons of coal annually. 

 It turns out machine tools, tenders, wagons, railway wheels, &c. 



The Societe Anonyme des Forges d' J udincourt has 5 charcoal iron- 

 smelting furnaces, 2 foundries, and 20 refining hearths. It uses 



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