1841.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECTS JOURNAL. 



161 



THE ARCHITECTURE OF LIVERPOOL. 



Sir — lu the outset of my remarks on this subject I avowed my in- 

 teution of preserving, to the best of ray ability, a spirit of ciindoiu- and 

 impartiality ; and I should feel that I was very far from acting up to 

 this pledge did f not endeavour to make the best amends in my power 

 for any injury or injustice which, however unintentionally, may have 

 been done to the vtorks noticed, or their authors. Overlooking under 

 the circumstances, the acrimony of expression employed by Mr. Cor- 

 bett, in his letter published in your last number, and giving, as I feel 

 bound to do, the fullest credit to his disclaimer of having taken any 

 unfair advantage in carrying out his design for the North and South 

 Wales Bank, by examining those of his competitors, I claim from him 

 credit for equal sincerity, when I declare that no idea was ever farther 

 from my mind than that of sheltering myself under a saving clause, for 

 the purpose of asserting any thing of which I doubted the truth. I 

 further assure him that it gives me unfeigned pleasure to find him so 

 entirely denying the charge, and that I sincerely regret having given 

 publicity to such an imputation, which however, I must in justice to 

 myself be permitted to say, would never have been the case had not 

 the report obtained such general credence among those interested in 

 the matter, as left me, as I then thought, no ground for doubting its 

 truth. As regards the committee, the case is by no means so clear ; 

 and without intending in any way to connect Mr. Corbett's name with 

 proceedings of which he professes entire ignorance, T maintain that 

 judging from his building as executed, and from the designs he sub- 

 mitted in two later competitions in this town, as compared with the 

 known ability of several of the competing architects, it is difficult to 

 conceive how, except by the exercise of some private influence, the 

 decision of the committee should have been unanimous in his favour. 

 Competition committees, however, are in their movements among the 

 most eccentric and inexplicable ofbwdies, and it is vain to attempt 

 arguing on their sources of action by the rules commonly applicable to 

 organized matter. — Witli respect to the limits of cost, and the time 

 the plans were in the hands of the committee, I spoke to the best of 

 my knowledge and recollection ; and still think that part of the designs 

 at least were six weeks in their possession, and that the sum of 5UU0/. 

 was named as the proposed amount of expenditure, but I suppose from" 

 Mr. C.'s plain assertion, not so advertised. — My mistake as to the 

 position of the back wall of the portico, arose from the view obtained 

 through the open doorway, of the wall of the vestibule next the bank ; 

 and such is the confusion of lines, arising from the number of features 

 which are crowded into this narrow space, when seen in passing close 

 to the front, as was the case with myself, that the most unequivocal 

 impression remained on my mind that the case was as I stated it ; and 

 I was not singular in this idea. The door is now I see in its place, 

 and this deception is corrected ; but the pediment, which, as Mr. 

 Corbett will perceive on reference, I mentioned as principally marking 

 the obliquity of plan, remains unalterable, and its effect in this respect 

 is most undeniable, as any one may prove by trial with a block model. 

 I hold my first opinion as to the waste of valuable space caused by the 

 use of columns and pilasters ; and though the privilege of advancing 

 the bases a few inches over the footway had at the time slipped my 

 memory, the fact is certain that room is iacrijictd, and the public 

 thoroughfare contracted, for the purpose of employing a mode of de- 

 coration most unsuitable for a building of such proportions, and by this 

 means cutting it up into a series of narrow stiips, into which the ne- 

 cessary openings must be crammed as they best may. — If Mr. Corbett 

 acknowledges, as by his silence on that point he in substance does, that 

 the sketches sent you are fair representations of the proportions of his 

 building, I may safely leave the question of its merit in point of de- 

 sign to the judgment of your readers; and trusting that the "judicious 

 Eder," and the "many" admirers mentioned by Mr. C. may long re- 

 main the sole advocates of such a style as the Bank exemplifies. 

 I remain. Sir, your's obediently. 



Liverpool, April 12, 184 1. 



H. 



ON THE EMPLOYMENT OF MILITARY ENGINEERS. 



Sir — The perusal of the article in your last number on the subject 

 of the employment of military engineers in positions to dictate to the 

 civil professional practitioners, has called into expression my own long 

 dormant feelings upon a very similar subject. 



It has been my lot to have had the means of observing, rather inti- 

 mately, the working of the civil engineering and architectural opera- 



tions of the Ordnance and Admiralty departments of the public service, 

 upon which subject I beg permission to ofter a few remarks. 



It is well known that a set of young gentlemen dignified with all 

 the notions of embryo-officers, are drilled through what is called a 

 "course of civil architecture," under the auspices of a. colonel At the 

 Royal Military College at Woolwich. When lectured through this 

 educational course, under the instruction of their Military Commandant, 

 and made very clever in copying drawings, they obtain their Lieute- 

 nant's commission, and become at once, and as a matter of course, en- 

 dowed with the necessary qualifications for designing and executing 

 all the details of the civil engineer and architect's profession. They 

 are stationed at an out-post under a staff of colonels and captains, and 

 are expected to make drawings, measure artificers work, abstract, 

 price, and enter into all the minutiie of a civilians practice. They 

 pretend to great efficiency and usefulness, and are very apt in signing 

 at full length their names and designations to the designs, &c. of which 

 they are supposed to be the authors. But it happens that to every 

 station there is attached an humble ill-paid individual usually emanat- 

 ing from the carpenter's bench, and rising through the grade of Fore- 

 man, to what is called the Clerk of Works. He and he alone is really 

 the designer, the estimator, and measurer, the every thing but the 

 signer. He, though generally himself most incompetent to perform 

 the lowest duties of the architect's profession, is yet sufficiently in ad- 

 vance of his military masters to do all the work for which they get 

 the credit. With all the innate idleness of military men, added to a 

 professional pride which raises them above the indignities of actual 

 practice — with no inducement to, and no necessity for, that incessant 

 application to details which can alone inrpart information and lay the 

 ground work of professional acquirement, they saunter through the 

 subordinate ranks, till at once getting the rank of colonel of engineers, 

 they are fit for any thing! 



Barristers of 20 years standing, whether they ever held a brief or 

 not, are duly qualified for most things, but a colonel of engineers beats 

 them hollow, their very rank endows them with that excellency of 

 skill, that pre-eminence of knovfledge, that loftiness of science which 

 marks them as the cUxss by which not only the public departments 

 connected with civil engineering and architecture are to be controlled, 

 but from which commissionerships of all sorts are to be formed to dis- 

 cipline — to dictate to — and to degrade — men, whose individual ener- 

 gies have done more to elevate their country in the scale of nations, 

 and whose eftbrts have been more successful in developing its resources, 

 and in promoting the industriel happiness of its people, than those of 

 any other body, of whatever class, or of whatever pursuit. 



At this moment we have a captain of engineers at the head of the 

 architectural and civil engineering departments of the Admiralty, a 

 man who alone and unassisted is incompetent to execute with decency 

 the most ordinary architectural performance — a man who has only the 

 most general smattering of architectural knowledge, who, if he had to 

 pass an examination, with an attentive pupil of four years standing, 

 would be disgraced; and yet this man is at the head of a department 

 in which hundreds of thousands of the public money are annually ex- 

 pended. 



But perhaps it will be said he is only the director-general, in whom 

 a tact in the management of business, and a soundness of judgment up- 

 on ordinary subjects, is more important than the knowledge of profes- 

 sional detail. He who knows most of his profession most highly, 

 values this description of knowledge — but be this as it may, let us see 

 who are the working men. At nearly every dockyard there is sta- 

 tioned a resident lieutenant or captain of engineers, one of the class 

 before alluded to, who lords it over a few foremen, and perhaps a 

 clerk of the works. These men have no practical acquaintance with 

 the value of materials or the cost of labour, their knowledge is con- 

 fined to the experience of government work, and they are under the 

 necessity of confiding in persons whose direct interest it is to abuse 

 their confidence, and to make the most advantageous bargains for them- 

 selves. If competition be had recourse to, it is well known that con- 

 tractors who have to deal with men ignorant of the usages of private 

 business, and from that ignorance open to abuse, have a thousand ways 

 of taking advantages which the experienced practitioner would readily 

 detect. 



Wliy should not these military architects and engineers be called 

 upon to submit to public examination before their appointment? I 

 know of one of these functionaries who, when first appointed to con- 

 duct works amounting to from 12 to 20,000/. a year, was nnacquainted 

 with the commonest professional terms. The candidates for country 

 engineers in Ireland have to pass a severe examination. The candi- 

 dates for private employment are constantly subject to the test of 

 severe competition, and'why is the same course not adopted with 

 respect to these mighty men ? Does their rank oppose so insufferable 

 an indignity ? or does it not signify whether they be qualified or not? 



