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Self Help

S >> Samuel Smiles >> Self Help




The circle of his benevolent operation gradually widened.
Observing the serious deterioration which had taken place in the
quality of British wool,--one of the staple commodities of the
country,--he forthwith, though but a private and little-known
country gentleman, devoted himself to its improvement. By his
personal exertions he established the British Wool Society for the
purpose, and himself led the way to practical improvement by
importing 800 sheep from all countries, at his own expense. The
result was, the introduction into Scotland of the celebrated
Cheviot breed. Sheep farmers scouted the idea of south country
flocks being able to thrive in the far north. But Sir John
persevered; and in a few years there were not fewer than 300,000
Cheviots diffused over the four northern counties alone. The value
of all grazing land was thus enormously increased; and Scotch
estates, which before were comparatively worthless, began to yield
large rentals.

Returned by Caithness to Parliament, in which he remained for
thirty years, rarely missing a division, his position gave him
farther opportunities of usefulness, which he did not neglect to
employ. Mr. Pitt, observing his persevering energy in all useful
public projects, sent for him to Downing Street, and voluntarily
proposed his assistance in any object he might have in view.
Another man might have thought of himself and his own promotion;
but Sir John characteristically replied, that he desired no favour
for himself, but intimated that the reward most gratifying to his
feelings would be Mr. Pitt's assistance in the establishment of a
National Board of Agriculture. Arthur Young laid a bet with the
baronet that his scheme would never be established, adding, "Your
Board of Agriculture will be in the moon!" But vigorously setting
to work, he roused public attention to the subject, enlisted a
majority of Parliament on his side, and eventually established the
Board, of which he was appointed President. The result of its
action need not be described, but the stimulus which it gave to
agriculture and stock-raising was shortly felt throughout the whole
United Kingdom, and tens of thousands of acres were redeemed from
barrenness by its operation. He was equally indefatigable in
encouraging the establishment of fisheries; and the successful
founding of these great branches of British industry at Thurso and
Wick was mainly due to his exertions. He urged for long years, and
at length succeeded in obtaining the enclosure of a harbour for the
latter place, which is perhaps the greatest and most prosperous
fishing town in the world.

Sir John threw his personal energy into every work in which he
engaged, rousing the inert, stimulating the idle, encouraging the
hopeful, and working with all. When a French invasion was
threatened, he offered to Mr. Pitt to raise a regiment on his own
estate, and he was as good as his word. He went down to the north,
and raised a battalion of 600 men, afterwards increased to 1000;
and it was admitted to be one of the finest volunteer regiments
ever raised, inspired throughout by his own noble and patriotic
spirit. While commanding officer of the camp at Aberdeen he held
the offices of a Director of the Bank of Scotland, Chairman of the
British Wool Society, Provost of Wick, Director of the British
Fishery Society, Commissioner for issuing Exchequer Bills, Member
of Parliament for Caithness, and President of the Board of
Agriculture. Amidst all this multifarious and self-imposed work,
he even found time to write books, enough of themselves to
establish a reputation. When Mr. Rush, the American Ambassador,
arrived in England, he relates that he inquired of Mr. Coke of
Holkham, what was the best work on Agriculture, and was referred to
Sir John Sinclair's; and when he further asked of Mr. Vansittart,
Chancellor of the Exchequer, what was the best work on British
Finance, he was again referred to a work by Sir John Sinclair, his
'History of the Public Revenue.' But the great monument of his
indefatigable industry, a work that would have appalled other men,
but only served to rouse and sustain his energy, was his
'Statistical Account of Scotland,' in twenty-one volumes, one of
the most valuable practical works ever published in any age or
country. Amid a host of other pursuits it occupied him nearly
eight years of hard labour, during which he received, and attended
to, upwards of 20,000 letters on the subject. It was a thoroughly
patriotic undertaking, from which he derived no personal advantage
whatever, beyond the honour of having completed it. The whole of
the profits were assigned by him to the Society for the Sons of the
Clergy in Scotland. The publication of the book led to great
public improvements; it was followed by the immediate abolition of
several oppressive feudal rights, to which it called attention; the
salaries of schoolmasters and clergymen in many parishes were
increased; and an increased stimulus was given to agriculture
throughout Scotland. Sir John then publicly offered to undertake
the much greater labour of collecting and publishing a similar
Statistical Account of England; but unhappily the then Archbishop
of Canterbury refused to sanction it, lest it should interfere with
the tithes of the clergy, and the idea was abandoned.

A remarkable illustration of his energetic promptitude was the
manner in which he once provided, on a great emergency, for the
relief of the manufacturing districts. In 1793 the stagnation
produced by the war led to an unusual number of bankruptcies, and
many of the first houses in Manchester and Glasgow were tottering,
not so much from want of property, but because the usual sources of
trade and credit were for the time closed up. A period of intense
distress amongst the labouring classes seemed imminent, when Sir
John urged, in Parliament, that Exchequer notes to the amount of
five millions should be issued immediately as a loan to such
merchants as could give security. This suggestion was adopted, and
his offer to carry out his plan, in conjunction with certain
members named by him, was also accepted. The vote was passed late
at night, and early next morning Sir John, anticipating the delays
of officialism and red tape, proceeded to bankers in the city, and
borrowed of them, on his own personal security, the sum of
70,000l., which he despatched the same evening to those merchants
who were in the most urgent need of assistance. Pitt meeting Sir
John in the House, expressed his great regret that the pressing
wants of Manchester and Glasgow could not be supplied so soon as
was desirable, adding, "The money cannot be raised for some days."
"It is already gone! it left London by to-night's mail!" was Sir
John's triumphant reply; and in afterwards relating the anecdote he
added, with a smile of pleasure, "Pitt was as much startled as if I
had stabbed him." To the last this great, good man worked on
usefully and cheerfully, setting a great example for his family and
for his country. In so laboriously seeking others' good, it might
be said that he found his own--not wealth, for his generosity
seriously impaired his private fortune, but happiness, and self-
satisfaction, and the peace that passes knowledge. A great
patriot, with magnificent powers of work, he nobly did his duty to
his country; yet he was not neglectful of his own household and
home. His sons and daughters grew up to honour and usefulness; and
it was one of the proudest things Sir John could say, when verging
on his eightieth year, that he had lived to see seven sons grown
up, not one of whom had incurred a debt he could not pay, or caused
him a sorrow that could have been avoided.



CHAPTER XIII--CHARACTER--THE TRUE GENTLEMAN



"For who can always act? but he,
To whom a thousand memories call,
Not being less but more than all
The gentleness he seemed to be,

But seemed the thing he was, and joined
Each office of the social hour
To noble manners, as the flower
And native growth of noble mind;

And thus he bore without abuse
The grand old name of Gentleman."--Tennyson.

"Es bildet ein Talent sich in der Stille,
Sich ein Charakter in dem Strom der Welt."--Goethe.

"That which raises a country, that which strengthens a country, and
that which dignifies a country,--that which spreads her power,
creates her moral influence, and makes her respected and submitted
to, bends the hearts of millions, and bows down the pride of
nations to her--the instrument of obedience, the fountain of
supremacy, the true throne, crown, and sceptre of a nation;--this
aristocracy is not an aristocracy of blood, not an aristocracy of
fashion, not an aristocracy of talent only; it is an aristocracy of
Character. That is the true heraldry of man."--The Times.


The crown and glory of life is Character. It is the noblest
possession of a man, constituting a rank in itself, and an estate
in the general goodwill; dignifying every station, and exalting
every position in society. It exercises a greater power than
wealth, and secures all the honour without the jealousies of fame.
It carries with it an influence which always tells; for it is the
result of proved honour, rectitude, and consistency--qualities
which, perhaps more than any other, command the general confidence
and respect of mankind.

Character is human nature in its best form. It is moral order
embodied in the individual. Men of character are not only the
conscience of society, but in every well-governed State they are
its best motive power; for it is moral qualities in the main which
rule the world. Even in war, Napoleon said the moral is to the
physical as ten to one. The strength, the industry, and the
civilisation of nations--all depend upon individual character; and
the very foundations of civil security rest upon it. Laws and
institutions are but its outgrowth. In the just balance of nature,
individuals, nations, and races, will obtain just so much as they
deserve, and no more. And as effect finds its cause, so surely
does quality of character amongst a people produce its befitting
results.

Though a man have comparatively little culture, slender abilities,
and but small wealth, yet, if his character be of sterling worth,
he will always command an influence, whether it be in the workshop,
the counting-house, the mart, or the senate. Canning wisely wrote
in 1801, "My road must be through Character to power; I will try no
other course; and I am sanguine enough to believe that this course,
though not perhaps the quickest, is the surest." You may admire
men of intellect; but something more is necessary before you will
trust them. Hence Lord John Russell once observed in a sentence
full of truth, "It is the nature of party in England to ask the
assistance of men of genius, but to follow the guidance of men of
character." This was strikingly illustrated in the career of the
late Francis Horner--a man of whom Sydney Smith said that the Ten
Commandments were stamped upon his countenance. "The valuable and
peculiar light," says Lord Cockburn, "in which his history is
calculated to inspire every right-minded youth, is this. He died
at the age of thirty-eight; possessed of greater public influence
than any other private man; and admired, beloved, trusted, and
deplored by all, except the heartless or the base. No greater
homage was ever paid in Parliament to any deceased member. Now let
every young man ask--how was this attained? By rank? He was the
son of an Edinburgh merchant. By wealth? Neither he, nor any of
his relations, ever had a superfluous sixpence. By office? He
held but one, and only for a few years, of no influence, and with
very little pay. By talents? His were not splendid, and he had no
genius. Cautious and slow, his only ambition was to be right. By
eloquence? He spoke in calm, good taste, without any of the
oratory that either terrifies or seduces. By any fascination of
manner? His was only correct and agreeable. By what, then, was
it? Merely by sense, industry, good principles, and a good heart--
qualities which no well-constituted mind need ever despair of
attaining. It was the force of his character that raised him; and
this character not impressed upon him by nature, but formed, out of
no peculiarly fine elements, by himself. There were many in the
House of Commons of far greater ability and eloquence. But no one
surpassed him in the combination of an adequate portion of these
with moral worth. Horner was born to show what moderate powers,
unaided by anything whatever except culture and goodness, may
achieve, even when these powers are displayed amidst the
competition and jealousy of public life."

Franklin, also, attributed his success as a public man, not to his
talents or his powers of speaking--for these were but moderate--but
to his known integrity of character. Hence it was, he says, "that
I had so much weight with my fellow citizens. I was but a bad
speaker, never eloquent, subject to much hesitation in my choice of
words, hardly correct in language, and yet I generally carried my
point." Character creates confidence in men in high station as
well as in humble life. It was said of the first Emperor Alexander
of Russia, that his personal character was equivalent to a
constitution. During the wars of the Fronde, Montaigne was the
only man amongst the French gentry who kept his castle gates
unbarred; and it was said of him, that his personal character was a
better protection for him than a regiment of horse would have been.

That character is power, is true in a much higher sense than that
knowledge is power. Mind without heart, intelligence without
conduct, cleverness without goodness, are powers in their way, but
they may be powers only for mischief. We may be instructed or
amused by them; but it is sometimes as difficult to admire them as
it would be to admire the dexterity of a pickpocket or the
horsemanship of a highwayman.

Truthfulness, integrity, and goodness--qualities that hang not on
any man's breath--form the essence of manly character, or, as one
of our old writers has it, "that inbred loyalty unto Virtue which
can serve her without a livery." He who possesses these qualities,
united with strength of purpose, carries with him a power which is
irresistible. He is strong to do good, strong to resist evil, and
strong to bear up under difficulty and misfortune. When Stephen of
Colonna fell into the hands of his base assailants, and they asked
him in derision, "Where is now your fortress?" "Here," was his
bold reply, placing his hand upon his heart. It is in misfortune
that the character of the upright man shines forth with the
greatest lustre; and when all else fails, he takes stand upon his
integrity and his courage.

The rules of conduct followed by Lord Erskine--a man of sterling
independence of principle and scrupulous adherence to truth--are
worthy of being engraven on every young man's heart. "It was a
first command and counsel of my earliest youth," he said, "always
to do what my conscience told me to be a duty, and to leave the
consequence to God. I shall carry with me the memory, and I trust
the practice, of this parental lesson to the grave. I have
hitherto followed it, and I have no reason to complain that my
obedience to it has been a temporal sacrifice. I have found it, on
the contrary, the road to prosperity and wealth, and I shall point
out the same path to my children for their pursuit."

Every man is bound to aim at the possession of a good character as
one of the highest objects of life. The very effort to secure it
by worthy means will furnish him with a motive for exertion; and
his idea of manhood, in proportion as it is elevated, will steady
and animate his motive. It is well to have a high standard of
life, even though we may not be able altogether to realize it.
"The youth," says Mr. Disraeli, "who does not look up will look
down; and the spirit that does not soar is destined perhaps to
grovel." George Herbert wisely writes,


"Pitch thy behaviour low, thy projects high,
So shall thou humble and magnanimous be.
Sink not in spirit; who aimeth at the sky
Shoots higher much than he that means a tree."


He who has a high standard of living and thinking will certainly do
better than he who has none at all. "Pluck at a gown of gold,"
says the Scotch proverb, "and you may get a sleeve o't." Whoever
tries for the highest results cannot fail to reach a point far in
advance of that from which he started; and though the end attained
may fall short of that proposed, still, the very effort to rise, of
itself cannot fail to prove permanently beneficial.

There are many counterfeits of character, but the genuine article
is difficult to be mistaken. Some, knowing its money value, would
assume its disguise for the purpose of imposing upon the unwary.
Colonel Charteris said to a man distinguished for his honesty, "I
would give a thousand pounds for your good name." "Why?" "Because
I could make ten thousand by it," was the knave's reply.

Integrity in word and deed is the backbone of character; and loyal
adherence to veracity its most prominent characteristic. One of
the finest testimonies to the character of the late Sir Robert Peel
was that borne by the Duke of Wellington in the House of Lords, a
few days after the great statesman's death. "Your lordships," he
said, "must all feel the high and honourable character of the late
Sir Robert Peel. I was long connected with him in public life. We
were both in the councils of our Sovereign together, and I had long
the honour to enjoy his private friendship. In all the course of
my acquaintance with him I never knew a man in whose truth and
justice I had greater confidence, or in whom I saw a more
invariable desire to promote the public service. In the whole
course of my communication with him, I never knew an instance in
which he did not show the strongest attachment to truth; and I
never saw in the whole course of my life the smallest reason for
suspecting that he stated anything which he did not firmly believe
to be the fact." And this high-minded truthfulness of the
statesman was no doubt the secret of no small part of his influence
and power.

There is a truthfulness in action as well as in words, which is
essential to uprightness of character. A man must really be what
he seems or purposes to be. When an American gentleman wrote to
Granville Sharp, that from respect for his great virtues he had
named one of his sons after him, Sharp replied: "I must request
you to teach him a favourite maxim of the family whose name you
have given him--ALWAYS ENDEAVOUR TO BE REALLY WHAT YOU WOULD WISH
TO APPEAR. This maxim, as my father informed me, was carefully and
humbly practised by HIS father, whose sincerity, as a plain and
honest man, thereby became the principal feature of his character,
both in public and private life." Every man who respects himself,
and values the respect of others, will carry out the maxim in act--
doing honestly what he proposes to do--putting the highest
character into his work, scamping nothing, but priding himself upon
his integrity and conscientiousness. Once Cromwell said to
Bernard,--a clever but somewhat unscrupulous lawyer, "I understand
that you have lately been vastly wary in your conduct; do not be
too confident of this; subtlety may deceive you, integrity never
will." Men whose acts are at direct variance with their words,
command no respect, and what they say has but little weight; even
truths, when uttered by them, seem to come blasted from their lips.

The true character acts rightly, whether in secret or in the sight
of men. That boy was well trained who, when asked why he did not
pocket some pears, for nobody was there to see, replied, "Yes,
there was: I was there to see myself; and I don't intend ever to
see myself do a dishonest thing."--This is a simple but not
inappropriate illustration of principle, or conscience, dominating
in the character, and exercising a noble protectorate over it; not
merely a passive influence, but an active power regulating the
life. Such a principle goes on moulding the character hourly and
daily, growing with a force that operates every moment. Without
this dominating influence, character has no protection, but is
constantly liable to fall away before temptation; and every such
temptation succumbed to, every act of meanness or dishonesty,
however slight, causes self-degradation. It matters not whether
the act be successful or not, discovered or concealed; the culprit
is no longer the same, but another person; and he is pursued by a
secret uneasiness, by self-reproach, or the workings of what we
call conscience, which is the inevitable doom of the guilty.

And here it may be observed how greatly the character may be
strengthened and supported by the cultivation of good habits. Man,
it has been said, is a bundle of habits; and habit is second
nature. Metastasio entertained so strong an opinion as to the
power of repetition in act and thought, that he said, "All is habit
in mankind, even virtue itself." Butler, in his 'Analogy,'
impresses the importance of careful self-discipline and firm
resistance to temptation, as tending to make virtue habitual, so
that at length it may become more easy to be good than to give way
to sin. "As habits belonging to the body," he says, "are produced
by external acts, so habits of the mind are produced by the
execution of inward practical purposes, i.e., carrying them into
act, or acting upon them--the principles of obedience, veracity,
justice, and charity." And again, Lord Brougham says, when
enforcing the immense importance of training and example in youth,
"I trust everything under God to habit, on which, in all ages, the
lawgiver, as well as the schoolmaster, has mainly placed his
reliance; habit, which makes everything easy, and casts the
difficulties upon the deviation from a wonted course." Thus, make
sobriety a habit, and intemperance will be hateful; make prudence a
habit, and reckless profligacy will become revolting to every
principle of conduct which regulates the life of the individual.
Hence the necessity for the greatest care and watchfulness against
the inroad of any evil habit; for the character is always weakest
at that point at which it has once given way; and it is long before
a principle restored can become so firm as one that has never been
moved. It is a fine remark of a Russian writer, that "Habits are a
necklace of pearls: untie the knot, and the whole unthreads."

Wherever formed, habit acts involuntarily, and without effort; and,
it is only when you oppose it, that you find how powerful it has
become. What is done once and again, soon gives facility and
proneness. The habit at first may seem to have no more strength
than a spider's web; but, once formed, it binds as with a chain of
iron. The small events of life, taken singly, may seem exceedingly
unimportant, like snow that falls silently, flake by flake; yet
accumulated, these snow-flakes form the avalanche.

Self-respect, self-help, application, industry, integrity--all are
of the nature of habits, not beliefs. Principles, in fact, are but
the names which we assign to habits; for the principles are words,
but the habits are the things themselves: benefactors or tyrants,
according as they are good or evil. It thus happens that as we
grow older, a portion of our free activity and individuality
becomes suspended in habit; our actions become of the nature of
fate; and we are bound by the chains which we have woven around
ourselves.

It is indeed scarcely possible to over-estimate the importance of
training the young to virtuous habits. In them they are the
easiest formed, and when formed they last for life; like letters
cut on the bark of a tree they grow and widen with age. "Train up
a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not
depart from it." The beginning holds within it the end; the first
start on the road of life determines the direction and the
destination of the journey; ce n'est que le premier pas qui coute.
"Remember," said Lord Collingwood to a young man whom he loved,
"before you are five-and-twenty you must establish a character that
will serve you all your life." As habit strengthens with age, and
character becomes formed, any turning into a new path becomes more
and more difficult. Hence, it is often harder to unlearn than to
learn; and for this reason the Grecian flute-player was justified
who charged double fees to those pupils who had been taught by an
inferior master. To uproot an old habit is sometimes a more
painful thing, and vastly more difficult, than to wrench out a
tooth. Try and reform a habitually indolent, or improvident, or
drunken person, and in a large majority of cases you will fail.
For the habit in each case has wound itself in and through the life
until it has become an integral part of it, and cannot be uprooted.
Hence, as Mr. Lynch observes, "the wisest habit of all is the habit
of care in the formation of good habits."

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