appears second in the list, was the son of an English gentleman who took part on the Chilean side in the war of liberation, and became a Chilean. The latter's great grandson is Señor Agustin Edwards, the well-known Chilean statesman, and the present highly esteemed minister-plenipotentiary in London.

Wheelwright's talents were not confined to the business side of his profession, although he afterwards became a partner of Mr. (afterwards Lord) Brassey's, the firm being known as Brassey, Withes, and Wheelwright. His scientific attainments were marked, and he was an expert in territory. Thus in 1860, in his character of F.R.G.S. we find him reading to the Royal Geographical Society a paper on a proposed railway across the Andes, from Caldera to Rosario via Córdoba. It is said to have been Wheelwright himself, moreover, who discovered the Chilean coal field at Talcahuano, which has subsequently played so important a part in the steam traffic of these regions.

Possibly Wheelwright's fame as an industrial pioneer is wider than I suspect. It is true that Valparaiso has raised a statue to him, and that his name is familiar enough in Chilean print-there are some excellent notes concerning him in Señor Santiago Marín Vicuña's Los Ferrocarriles de Chile. But it is surprising how seldom his name occurs in English books, and how many indexes one may ransack for a reference to him, only to draw blank!

It is not a little remarkable that in a hermit state such as was Paraguay in the middle of the nineteenth century railway enterprise should have begun as early as the year 1854. In that year the most genial of Paraguay's three autocrats, Carlos Antonio Lopez, ordered that his country was to be provided with railways. Three British engineers, Messrs. Burrel, Valpy and Padison were engaged for the purpose, and, in order that the construction might be conducted on the accepted Paraguayan model of

the mid-nineteenth century, three battalions of infantry were placed at their disposal to act as navvies.

As a result, some seventy-two kilometres of rail had been laid in 1861, when the line was opened from Asuncion as far as Paraguarí. The advent to power of Francisco Solano Lopez brought about a period of war which interrupted all such enterprise, and it was not until 1886 that work was resumed on the line.

Little by little the network of railway lines extended itself over South America. The following report, published by Mr. C. Frederic Woodgate in 1877, will show the beginning of various of the companies in Argentina, the chief railway country in the Continent.

In 1877 the situation of the Argentina railways was as follows:

The first of these, the Western Railway was begun under distinctly modest auspices so far as capital is concerned. A sum of £28,000 sufficed to start the venture, an amount to which the Argentine Government subsequently added the loan of the equivalent of £24,000. In 1864 we find the officials claiming with pride that the trains on their system frequently carried over three thou

sand passengers in a single day—an estimate that might cause some chagrin to the managers of to-day!

Incidentally it may be remarked that, as a result of the construction of this line, some of the land through which it passed increased in value fifty-fold. At a later date, after the Great Southern Railway had opened the southern Buenos Aires country which General Roca had freed from the Indian peril, land which had been obtainable for £70 the square league less than eight years afterwards was worth £3,000 the league!

It was in the 1870's that some of the most notable strides were undertaken in the great public services throughout South America. Even before this, however, the little Republic of Uruguay had made its first acquaintance with the iron road. The first railway to be opened here was the Central Uruguay. This was begun in 1868, and a short section of eleven miles was already being worked in 1869.

Four years later, in 1873, the British turned their attention to the north of the continent, and built the first railway in Venezuela. This was known as the Bolivar Railway, and was originally constructed to connect the town of Tucacas with the copper mines of Aroa. The line was subsequently extended to Barquisimeto.

Incidentally, too, it may be remarked that it was at this period that the complementary public services came into being. Thus the first South American cable was laid in 1874. It connected Lisbon with Pernambuco, and its 3,866 miles ran by way of Madeira and St. Vincent. By the year 1877, moreover, a proof of the strides of the young tramway industry was evident in Buenos Aires, where the British Companies owned a length of fifty-four miles, of tram-lines, on which about one hundred cars were working.

It is quite out of the question to attempt to deal here with the more recent progress of the British owned railways in South America. Some of the feats, it is true,

are of world-wide importance. The linking up of Buenos Aires with Valparaiso and consequently, of the Atlantic with the Pacific-the establishment of railway communication between Rio and Brazil and Montevideo in Uruguay; between Buenos Aires and Asuncion, the capital of Paraguay; the construction of the famous Oroza railway, which crosses the Peruvian Andes at a height of nearly sixteen thousand feet; the successful completion of the remarkable Madeira-Mamoré railway, the pet project of that most worthy North American successor of Wheelwright, Colonel Church, by which the terrors of a fever-laden series of Amazonian torrents were for ever done away with these alone are achievements which have called into being some of the greatest engineering skill of the age, to say nothing of the assistance of such ambitious instruments as steam ferries for the conveyance of trains across rivers, and similar undertakings by means of which the more stupendous stretches of nature have been harnessed.

Much the same may be said of the port-works, river traffic, and municipal undertakings in which the British have specialized. A book might comfortably be written on each subject, and, indeed, so far as the amount of print is concerned, many have been!

CHAPTER XXVI

TO-DAY AND TO-MORROW IN SOUTH AMERICA

The Work of the British in the Continent-Financial achievements-Manner in which the efforts have been carried out-Policy of the British from the Elizabethan Age onwards-Relations with the South Americans-The latter's experiences of the Englishman as an enemy and as a friend-The Prussian Alfinger-Tastes of the South AmericansSome matters of appreciation-Confidence between the Iberians and the British-Guiana and the Falklands-Progress of British tradeRatio of increase compared with that of Germany-Reasons for a specious growth and real decline-Philosophy of the British manufacturer-His relations with his agents abroad-Questions of marketing goods-Some artificial disadvantages-Necessity of organization on a large scale-An instance in the shipping world-Result of retaliatory measures-The British commercial traveler in South AmericaSuggestions concerning a suitable type of man-The intimate history of a warship contract-The Englishman not an opportunist-Advantages and disadvantages of this circumstance-Teutonic national machinery employed in support of commerce-The value of official flattery -Necessity for British organization on a comprehensive scale-Questions of diplomacy and diplomats-Suggestions concerning a special type of attaché-Evidences of German prosperity in South America— Latin-American sentiment-Opinions of a Brazilian merchant-Probable future German commercial campaign-The North Americans as competitors-Relations of these with the Latin Americans-South America and British imperial preference-Britain's task as an ally.

I

'N reviewing the work of the British in South America it is fortunately unnecessary to enter into a maze of statistics. These have been so clearly set out in dozens of publications, official and otherwise, that any mass of detail would not justify its passage in this particular prose vehicle.

Briefly, very nearly one hundred years ago two or three million pounds passed from Lombard Street to the newly founded South American States. This financial assistance came to them when they were still in the act of reeling to their feet, and before the smoke of the War of Independence had finally rolled clear of the Continent.