Man of Iron by Julian Glover

Author:Julian Glover
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2016-04-11T04:00:00+00:00

11

The Enjoyment of Splendid Orders

‘Sir,’ the letter began, ‘You will I hop excuse me for introducing myself quite a stranger to You in this manner and I fear in Englisch not of the best sort.’1 It was a hesitant start to what became a deep friendship between two men separated by class and country. Count Baltzar Bogislaus von Platen, the son of a Swedish field marshal, was a senior naval officer and later governor of Norway, one of the elite in a nation still famous for its recently lost empire; he was writing to Telford, who was, when the letter reached him in May 1808, simply an engineer squelching through the mud at Clachnaharry.

Like much of his post it had chased him around the country (sent to Edinburgh, the letter was forwarded first to Ellesmere, then Shrewsbury, before finding him in Inverness), but unlike his familiar heavy mailbag full of accounts and orders from Rickman and Hope, this was accompanied by a formal decree from the King of Sweden asking him to work on what became the Göta Canal. ‘His Majesty Graciously wishes that any of the most experienced Canal Engineers in England,’ it informed him, ‘and particularly amongst them Mr. Telford to whom the execution of the Caledonian Canal is said to be trusted may be prevailed upon proper terms to take a vieu of this undertaking and give his opinion and council thereupon.’

Von Platen’s accompanying letter explained this lustrous command, which must have shone all the more when read by candlelight in Inverness, so far from kings and their courtiers. ‘The reason for this You will learn of the inclosed extract of His Majesty the king of Swedens instruction to me about marking out &c. of the new canal wich is to pass through Sweden,’ he wrote in tangled English, ‘His Majesty wishing the performance of this national work to be made in the most perfect manner wich the national circumstances alow has naturaly looked for advices from a Country were such performances are common and particularly has fixed his Gracious attention upon the first of all these performances the Caledonian Canal and his Chief; known by several publications about his work not unknown in Sweden.’

Among the things that stands out from this passage – perhaps best read aloud in a cod-Swedish accent – is that it was Telford, not William Jessop, who was being invited to help: in reputation, if not yet quite in title, he was the ‘Chief’ of the canal.

Telford enjoyed the attention of the ruling classes almost as much as he skipped over their ostentation, and was flattered by the royal request that he travel to Sweden at once to survey the route. The project, von Platen assured him, was ‘a work belonging not only to Sweden but in a great deal almost to the whole world’. ‘As the time for acting is fast coming on in this country,’ he added, ‘I hope You will favour me with a speedy answer and I request You once more for the common sakes that it be a good one.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.