The opening of the railways in Bombay was a singular occurence, and was sure to create quite a sensation. As such, the people of Bombay were ecstatic, and as a matter of fact, the day of Inauguration (16th April 1853) was declared a public holiday in Bombay. The events of the day were extensively reported in local media, and newspapers went on a great deal of detail on them. Last Month, I digitised The Bombay Gazette's report on the inauguration, and here I present the report published in The Bombay Times and Journal Of Commerce (which in 1861 became The Times of India). While the Gazette article transcribed the entire length of probably every speech that was given at the ceremony at Tannah, the Times chose to summarise those great speeches, instead focusing a bit more on the journey itself. Taken together, these two reports complement each other fairly well, and provide an in depth picture of the events of that historic day. While some errors may have crept in from my part of the editing, some seemingly misspelt words and strange expressions are just the manners of expression no longer widely prevalent. So I present to you, a read into the past- The Bombay Times of 18 April 1853
P.S. There's even a nice poem before the article!
THE OPENING OF THE BOMBAY RAILWAY
The sun walks in his glory on his way,
And earth and ocean drinks his living ray!
Our happy isle reposes 'neath the light,
Its wheels of toil suspended in their might
Like sleeping nature, when the day draws nigh,
Awakening unto light and life and joy!
A sun is rising on this darken'd land,
Shaped by civilization's god-like hand!
And thousands soon will gather to behold
This spectacle of wonders manifold!
Already see a concourse vast, around,
O'erspreading thickly many a mile of ground;
On plain, on hill, in valley they assemble,
The trees and house-tops with huge burthens tremble!
Hark! Hark! reverberating o'er the land and sea,
The loud gun's boom of jubilee!
And lo! majestic standing, wreath'd in clouds
Of hissing steam, amid the breathless crowds,
The sight of wonder, in whose grasp appears,
The flag that's brav'd its foes a thousand years!
Oh! list its shrill, its thrilling, awing scream,
See, see it moves, it glides like some freed stream,
Bearing all things with it with ruthless force,
That come upon its unimpeded course!
And as it onward glides, the concourse raise
Their long pent breath in long and loud hurras!
A sun has risen on this darken'd land,
Shaped by civilization's god-like hand!
And may no cloud e'er dim its splendour rare,
But burn an omnipresence heavenly fair
Through all time and all season that this earth shall share!
ON SATURDAY LAST, the 16th Instant, the Railway between Bombay and Tanna was opened with all due pomp and ceremony. We have already detailed the arrangements that had been made at the terminus at the Boree Bunder for the reception and accommodation of the Ladies and Gentlemen who had been invited to be present on this auspicious occasion. Soon after two o'clock the awning and shed began to be filled with all the beauty, rank and fashion of Bombay. The Railway Directors, ably assisted by Mr. Roche, lost no time in getting all comfortably seated in the carriages that formed the Monster train. A large number of Ladies, - the Hon'ble the Chief and Puisne Judges, the Hon'ble Messrs. Blane and Bell, Sir Henry Leeke and many others, amounting in all to nearly five hundred individuals, helped by their presence to give eclat and honor to the occasion. The space around the Railway shed was thickly thronged with people of all classes, creeds, and colors. Precisely at half-past three o'clock the Artillery at Fort George boomed forth a Royal Salute, and the Governor's Band, which occupied one of the carriages of the Train, struck up the National Anthem immediately afterwards, followed by the Railway Polka and several other airs. All things being in readiness, the train, drawn by three Engines, was set in motion at twenty-five minutes to four o'clock, and went majestically along its course to the astonishment and wonder of the assembled thousands. The whole line was densely crowded with spectators from the terminus to the flats beyond Byculla, tier after tier of the houses in the Native Town were filled as thickly as they could be by men, women, and children the heights of Nowrojee Hill and all the adjacent high land were literally crowded with anxious spectators, and the scene altogether was one of great beauty and excitement. On crossing the flats and getting into the country between Mahim and the Sion Causeway, spectators from the neighbouring villages were still found lining both sides of the rail, and thus it continued more or less all the way to Tanna, the approaches to which also were densely crowded. Including a short halt beyond Sion, for the purpose of taking in water, the trip to Tanna was accomplished in fifty-seven minutes. Here, in a suit of Durbar Tents, covers were laid for four hundred persons, the tables literally groaning under every delicacy of the season. After due justice had been done to them, Major Swanson, the senior Director of the Company present, and who officiated as Chairman, proposed the Health of HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN.
THE CHAIRMAN then proposed the health of LORD FALKLAND, under whose Government the works of this Railway had been commenced, and by the liberal support and aid of whose Government they were being carried out. (Cheers). The Chairman regretted that the departure of His Lordship from Bombay had prevented their being honored with his presence at the opening, which it had been fully His Lordship's intention to be present at.
SIR WILLIAM YARDLEY then rose to propose the next toast, and said he felt the utmost pleasure and satisfaction in performing the part which had been assigned to him in the celebration of the great national event of the first opening of a Railroad in India.
That the 16th of April 1853 was, and would long continue to be, one of the most memorable days, if not the most memorable day, in the annals of British India. They had often met together to celebrate with national pride and exultation many a glorious triumph, many a brilliant victory, many a great and solid achievement of British valour and genius in the East, but on those occasions there was mingled with the exultation of the moment a feeling of sadness and sorrow for the fallen, and of sympathy for the vanquished, though they were our foes. But here at length was a triumph without any corresponding humiliation; a victory without any cor-responding defeat; a great and solid gain without any corresponding loss, and we could, with consistency and propriety, invite the whole people of India, whatever their race or lineage, cordially to join with us in celebrating the inauguration of the Great Indian Peninsula Railway. This was not the triumph of nation over nation, of race over race, of man over his fellow man. It was the triumph of mind over matter, of patience and perseverance, guided by skill and directed by science, over physical obstacles and difficulties, and though some might think the existence of twenty miles of Railway in this immense territory was no great matter to boast of, he could not help regarding it as a great and momentous fact, pregnant with the most important consequences, and with the best hopes for the future of the people of India. He believed it would be difficult for the most vivid imagination to conceive, or for the most eloquent tongue to describe, the effect which an extensive system of Railway would produce upon the physical, moral and intellectual condition of the immense and industrious population of this great country, hitherto so imperfectly provided with the means of internal communication.
He thought it would be taking a narrow and incorrect view of this interesting subject to suppose that only the physical condition of the people would be improved by the introduction of this, the latest and perhaps the most important of the achievements of science and civilization. They would infallibly advance in all other respects, physically, morally, and intellectually. To suppose the contrary would be to suppose an anomaly that never existed. All the arts of life, the modes of thought, the social institutions of the country too gradually adapt and assimilate themselves to the higher standard of civilization thus established.
He felt much tempted to enter into some statistical details, with a view of ascertaining whether the wish expressed in the toast he was about to propose was likely to be realized, but he was reminded that time, tide, and Railways wait for no man, and he had already occupied more than his proper share of the very limited time allotted to that meeting, and moreover, he had no wish to terrify, with a long array of figures, his few friends who graced this ceremony with their presence; but there were one or two facts so very gratifying, that he could not forbear a passing allusion to them. The original estimate for constructing the experimental line to Callian was half a million sterling, but it would be completed in the most solid and substantial manner for 20 per cent less than that sum, and way.engine this would include permanent way, engine carriages and machinery of every description and in ample quantities; in short, every thing properly chargeable to capital. He was informed, moreover, that this first section of the line to Callian had been constructed for £10,000 less than the estimate, and almost the whole of this great work had been completed in one fair season; he had heard a good deal of Indian dilatoriness, but here was an instance of despatch and promptitude in a country in which such undertakings were entirely new that would have done credit to all the parties concerned, if it had happened in England or any other country in the world. It was also most gratifying to be informed by the highest authorities in these matters that the native workmen employed on the line, to the number of 10,000 at a time, had proved most decile [sic] {docile}, intelligent, and industrious, and the future progress of this great undertaking would be immensely facilitated by the abundant supply of skilled labour which under English superintendence had been formed out of the raw material of the country. There were youths who had not reached the age of manhood now employed on the line who were earning wages four or five times as high as those which they would have obtained for their rude and uninstructed labor, and this, not on account of the increased demand for labor, but entirely owing to the skill and dexterity which they had acquired under competent instructors. All these facts, which I have learnt from the able and intelligent gentle-men forming the official staff of the Company at Bombay, were, it must be admitted most honorable to all concerned, to the Engineer who made the surveys and estimates,-to the local board who made the contracts, to the con-tractors who executed them, and last, but not least, to the patient, industrious, orderly and docile workmen employed on the line.
All these things seemed to afford great encouragement to Railway enterprize in India. He had not attempted, nor should he attempt, to calculate what return would ultimately be made for the capital expended. He had already expressed his belief that it was quite impossible to estimate the effect to be produced by an easy and rapid mode of communication with the interest of a populous and productive country which has never, as regards the greater part of it, known what it was to possess even a decent system of roads for bullock carts; but the people of which are so prone to commercial enterprise that, as he had been informed by a gentleman whose business it had been on behalf of the Company to enquire into these matters, the amount of traffic pouring down the rugged and almost impracticable gorges of the Thull Ghaut was amazing and almost incredible, considering the difficulty of the route.
He confessed he looked to the future of this great and interesting country with intense interest and sanguine hope, and, believing that a well-desired system of Railways, ably and prudently executed, would be the most powerful of all worldly instruments of its advancement and civilization in every respect, he had great pleasure in proposing the toast of "Success to the Great Indian Peninsula Railway Company," and he begged to couple therewith the name of Lord Wharncliffe, the Chairman of the Company, and the Directors, both general and local, and particularly the honorable and gallant gentleman (Major Swanson) who presided on that auspicious occasion, whose kind attention and politeness they had all that day had occasion to appreciate,"
MAJOR SWANSON again rose, and, in proposing "THE LADIES," spoke as follows:-
"I rise with great diffidence to acknowledge the toast which has just been so eloquently proposed by Sir William Yardley, and so cordially responded to by the Gentlemen present, for I am quite unused to speak in public, or to take a prominent part on an occasion like the present. I therefore hope, Sir William Yardley, that you and the Ladies and Gentlemen present will be satisfied with a brief expression of thanks for the manner in which you have spoken of this Railway, and for having connected the names of the Directors therewith. Ladies and Gentlemen, the labours of the Directors have been easy, for, with the liberal support of the Government (cheers;) and the able assistance of the gentlemen in the employment of the Railway Company, the Directors have had little to perform. On this occasion I beg to be permitted to mention the gentlemen to whose services the Railway Company are indebted for their works having arrived at their present stage. The first I would bring to your notice are the talented Chief Engineer, Mr. Berkley, and his very efficient Staff, by whom the works have been planned, and under whose direction and superintendence they are being carried out. The next are his very enterprising contractors, by whom these works are being executed. The first of these is Mr. Faviell, who has constructed the line from Bombay to this place. Mr. Faviell was a stranger to India, and undertook the contract in England. He came to this country and has executed this work in a manner satisfactory to all parties, and the creditable completion of which you have just had the opportunity of seeing. The next is Mr. Jackson, by whom a further portion of the line is being executed, a shorter but a more difficult section and under whom it is rapidly progressing towards completion. Ladies and Gentlemen, I wish that you could see the noble Viaducts which Mr. Jackson has constructed not far from this, by which the arm of the sea that separates us from the mainland has been spanned, and that you could also see the Tunnels by which he has perforated the mountains beyond I would also mention the native Contractor by whom a hard and more distant portion of the line is being constructed, and who is worthily emulating the gentleman 1 have just named. The next person I have to name, to whom the Railway Company is indebted, is our excellent Secretary Mr. Scott, who has long been connected with this under-taking, and whose assistance has been most valuable to the Directors in this country. (Applause.) And last, but far from the least in importance, is the Traffic Manager and Locomotive Superintendent, Mr. Roche. The Railway Company I consider has been most fortunate in obtaining the services of so able and experienced a Superintendent as he is-a specimen of whose management you have had in the able arrangements he has made for bringing us here this day. And now, Ladies and Gentlemen, I thank you all for your presence here on this occasion, and in an especial manner do I thank the Ladies, who have braved the heat to be present, and who have graced our opening day. (Cheers.) Under no fairer auspices than theirs could any work be commenced, (great applause) and Gentlemen, in return for the patience with which you have listened to an unpractised speaker, I will now propose a toast which I am sure will afford you the greatest gratification. I give the health of the Ladies here present with all the honours.
"SIR HENRY LEEKE proposed "Mr. Berkley and the Railway Staff," making the following observations:-
"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, -So much has been said by my friends the Lord Chief Justice and Major Swanson upon the subject of the opening of this first Great Indian Railway, that to expatiate more largely upon it would only be to take up time that may be more agreeably, as well as more profitably employed, and as our gallant Chairman has so perfectly forestalled me, and I may say taken my words out of my month, I really feel that I have but little to say; but I cannot allow the opportunity to pass without begging you to join me in drinking health and prosperity to a Gentleman, whose talents and scientific attainments have enabled him to carry out so great and so noble an undertaking. Mr. Berkley, to whom I of course allude, has, with the staff attached to his Department, performed work unsurpassed by the great-est of our Civil Engineers, we have heard of a Brunell, a Stevenson, and a Rennie, and though what they have done is matter of astonishment to the world, yet let them look to what has taken place in Western India, and they will all give the greatest credit to a young man who, by his perseverance, has overcome difficulties that at first appeared almost insurmountable. We have been warned by our gallant Chairman, Major Swanson, that the time is come for our return, and as the Ladies have much to do to prepare for the train, I must not say more, though it is a subject which I could go on speaking of for some length of time. I beg you, now, to join me in drinking to the health of Mr. Berkley and the staff of the Great Indian Railway, and may success attend them in all their future undertakings."
MR.BERKLEY then rose to return thanks and riveted the attention of his audience by the earnest and emphatic manner in which he made what must be considered the speech of the Evening. To have been duly appreciated it ought to have been heard, as the following report of it can give no idea of the speaker's energy and earnestness, which proved to all present that his whole mind was wrapped up in his subject, to which it must be confessed he did the most ample justice :-
"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, I rise to acknowledge for the Engineering Staff and myself the great honor that has been conferred upon me by Sir Henry Leeke, and this large and distinguished assembly. We accept it as the greatest compliment that could have been paid to us, because it is an approval of our past exertions, and we return you our best and warmest thanks.
"I know that nothing which I can say will add to the effect of this great public event, when 500 people have been conveyed together from Bombay to Tannah by locomotive power within the short time of our journey, -a fact that must speak eloquently to the people of this nation, -that has spoken to the teeming crowds along our route, and in tones that must penetrate the remotest recesses of India; but there are observations connected with our past operations, which are calculated to inspire public confidence in similar undertakings in this country, and therefore feel it to be an incumbent duty to make them.
'Ladies and Gentlemen, the materials of this country have proved to be abundant and suitable for the construction of the Railway. We have found, too, that, notwithstanding the severity of the climate, we have been able to maintain the constant and vigilant European superintendence of the works, which is so essential to their proper execution. The native labourers have far exceeded our expectations. To the many commanding officers of native troops it would be vain in me to speak of their docility, their endurance, and their discipline; to the Civilians, who have conducted the business of those large efficient offices in Bombay, it would be vain to speak of their talent and their industry, but, Ladies and Gentlemen, there is a fresh source of encouragement to be derived from the construction of the Railway, that the very lowest caste of natives, upon whose members we must mainly rely for executing the works upon our extensions, are capable of becoming skillful and handy artisans, and that, notwithstanding those superstitions which so many affirmed to be indomitable, they have readily adopted the use of new mechanical appliances.
"Again, the management of this Company was so peculiarly constituted, as to be regarded by many as a matter of experiment whether it would answer or not. I allude to the affairs of a company of private capitalists being managed by their own appointed director, but under close Government supervision. My official position has given me opportunities of judging upon this matter, and I cheerfully bear my testimony to its success, and state my opinion, that it is owing in a very great measure to the temperate and able manner in which the Government officers have exerted the authority intrusted to them; and I take this opportunity of expressing my regret, and that of many here present, that Mr. Goldsmid, the Financial Secretary, who has laboured with great talent and effect in the business of the Railway Department, should have been prevented by sore domestic affliction from sharing our triumph to-day.
"There is yet another point. The contracting system has proved eminently successful in this undertaking-that system by which the finest Railway system in the world has been begun and completed far within the limits of a single age; and i is only an act of justice to the Company's Contractors, Messrs. Faviell and Fowler, that I should declare before this large and influential meeting my opinion that our thanks are due to them for their enterprise in embarking for this country to undertake a contract of small amount, and upon very moderate terms, and for the energetic and satisfactory manner in which they have executed it. These, Ladies and Gentlemen, are strong grounds of encouragement to us, who are now looking forward to the construction of the Ghaut extensions, and they leave no excuse for delay in proceeding with them.
"It may seem a little thing to those who are familiar with the history of recent days, to open a Railway only twenty (20) miles long, but we have to-day publicly introduced to this rich and populous nation those two great agents, Steam and Iron, (cheers) in the form of the most powerful system that modern invention has devised for the extension of commerce and for the promotion of civilization: and I venture to say, that it behaves all those who value the commercial prosperity of this country, or are interested in the Railway itself, to take care, as far as it lies in their power to do so, that there is no delay in proceeding with the ex-tensions. Ladies and Gentlemen, I know that I have detained you, and fear that I have wearied your patience, (cries of No, No); but these opinions have been drawn from novel facts which have fallen within the range of our operations, and it would have been wrong if, in my official position, I had not publicly stated them. Lastly, I come to the gist of my speech, namely, the Toast which I have been requested to propose an honorable one to myself, and I only wish that it had been more so to the subject of it, by having proceeded from one of the Directors. There is however this satisfaction-that Captain Crawford, (applause) the Government Superintending Engineer, is esteemed so highly by the service, that it will, I am sure, be acceptable to him and to his friends to receive this testimony to his worth from an independent party; I have had many opportunities of judging, and I can honestly say that Captain Crawford has manifested great talent, sound judgment, and admirable temper in the course of our business transactions, and that to him must be justly accorded a very large share of the credit of that success which has hitherto attended the joint management of which I have spoken.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, I have the honor to propose to you the health of Captain Crawford."
CAPTAN CRAWFORD [sic] returned thanks.
SIR CHARLES JACKSON, in a brief but excellent address, proposed "The Contractors."
MR. FAVIELL then rose and replied in the following terms:-
"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, -I rise with consider-able diffidence to acknowledge the very flattering and complimentary remarks that have been made to-day on the share which I have had in completing the first Contract for Railways in India, and also to express, with many thanks, the honour you have done myself and partner, in drinking our healths. I am sorry he is not present to have witnessed this important day, and the completion of our works.
"The introduction of Railway communication in India is a great event, and I shall always look back with pleasure in having assisted in making the first line, although it has been hitherto without that pecuniary satisfaction which is so necessary to stimulate us to future exertions. I again, sincerely thank you all for the honour which you have done me on this occasion."
THE CHAIRMAN then rose and said that he had an ungracious task to perform, which was to tell the company that it was time to be going-that time and tide wait for no man-not even for the large number then assembled, and that their time was nearly up. He would ask them, however, to wait a few minutes until he called upon all connected with the Railway to join him in drinking the healths of the Gentlemen visitors who had honoured them with their presence that evening.
The Governor's Band played suitable airs after each Toast. No time was lost in returning to the train, and, leaving Tannah at half-past six o'clock, the party was again safely landed in fifty-five minutes at the Terminus at the Boree Bunder; late as it was the sides of the Railway from the Byculla Flats were still lined with spectators, who cheered loudly as the train passed and arrived at its destination, and thus favorably terminated, beyond the expectations of the most sanguine,
THE OPENING OF THE FIRST RAILWAY PASSENGER TRAIN IN INDIA.
Thanks for the scroll!
See Also
- The Bombay Gazette article of 18th April 1853, with other complementary details.
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