ALEXANDER BALFOITR.* IT would be hard to imagine a more
usefully spent life or a more kindly and loving nature than that of Mr. Alexander Balfour, the Liverpool merchant, the record of whose goodness and benevolence is sympathetically and wisely set forth in the work before us. Mr. Balfour was the type of the good citizen in active and practical daily life. He was not one of those men who, starting with a fortune, or at any rate an independence, make philanthropy, as it were, a profession, and devote themselves to good works as to a business. Such men —the late Lord Shaftesbury was the most prominent instance of the class—no doubt often confer very great benefits upon their fellows. Still, we are almost inclined to think that those, like Mr. Balfour, who, though they are engaged for the greater part of their lives in regular commercial pursuits, yet introduce an element of benevolence and charity into all the matters with which their ordinary business brings them into contact, do even a greater service to the world, and confer upon it even greater benefits. The philanthropist at large sometimes loses power from want of a first-hand acquaintance with affairs, and lacks every now and then the special knowledge which is required to perfect his work. The man, however, who carries the philanthropic spirit into all the diverse and complicated relations of a mercantile career, and who makes his position as a manufacturer, a trader, or a shipowner, afford him oppor- tunities for helping the unfortunate, and for bettering the spiritual and material condition of the poor and the distressed, is far less likely to make mistakes or to do unintentional injuries in the duties he undertakes. This fact is well brought out in the record of Mr. Balfour's career. Mr. Balfour was for the greater part of his life actively engaged in the work of a Liverpool merchant, and at every point where the human element in business was encountered by him, he tried to do what he could to alleviate the sufferings of the miserable and to reform the vicious. We do not mean, of course, that he confined himself exclusively to work among those with whom his own pursuits brought him into contact. His sympathies were far too wide for such restriction. It is, how- ever, in no way misrepresenting him to say that he used specially the opportunities for doing good which arose in his own business experience. For instance, he was led to under- take his excellent work among the Liverpool seamen by a sense of his duties to the sailors in his own employ. Again, when the affairs of his firm obliged him to reside for several years at Valparaiso, he at once occupied himself in attending to the wants of the population, English and native, among which his lot had been cast.
Perhaps the fact which most strikes the reader of his biography is the extraordinary generosity of Mr. Balfour in individual cases. Men of less confident nature would hardly have dared to shower their benefactions as he did. They would have feared to undermine the quality of self-help in those to whom they were tempted to give. It does not appear, how- ever, that his trust was misplaced, nor are we told that he had any reason for curtailing his generosity in this respect. The instances of such benevolence quoted by his biographer are very numerous. On one occasion, Mr. Balfour attended the funeral of a relative, and finding that the children had been badly provided for, went to the bank of the deceased and " wrote a cheque for a large sum," which he paid in with the words,—" Just add that to the account : and nothing need be said about it." On another occasion, Mr. Balfour saved a business man from ruin. The story can best be told by quoting a portion of the letter in which the facts are related by the friend whom Mr. Balfour helped :—
" The crowning act of Mr. Balfour's kindness and generosity towards myself occurred under the following circumstances. In 1876, through a succession of unfortunata business transactions, I was brought into such a critical position, that unless I could obtain time and forbearance, I was threatened with the loss of a large fortune, or the greater part of it. I had never had any business relations with Mr. Balfour or his firm, which might have furnished me with a reason for invoking his advice or assistance. Moreover, at the time when my misfortunes were pressing on me, he was overwhelmed with grief at the loss of his eldest son, _Ulster, which had taken place the previous week. Yet on receipt of a letter from me, he telegraphed that he would come up next day—it happened to be his birthday—and advise what he thought best to be done. He reached London in the afternoon, spent several hours in my office, went carefully into the statement I laid before him, and advised me as to what he considered it necessary * Altrander Balfour : a Memoir. By R. H Lundie, M A. London : James Nisbet and Co. Liverpool : Philip, Son, and Nephew. 1888.
to do, in order to save my credit and my property. Expressing his deep sympathy and his earnest desire to help me, he returned that evening to Mount Alyn. In a few days he advised that his firm was prepared to assist me with a large sum of money under most favourable conditions, and that he had also induced another friend to come forward with assistance. The temporary strain was gradually relieved : my property was saved for my family. But for him it would have been sacrificed. Although I and mine owed so much to him, he never in after years alluded to the sub- ject, and seemed to object to my referring to all we owed to him. I have always reflected. on this act of self-renouncing sympathy as an index of his generous and noble nature. . . . . He was always so bright in his sayings and doings, that I have often thought of him as one who was marching along, animated by the strain of celestial music which those around him did not hear. Surely there never was a nobler, braver, gentler, Christian gentleman than Alexander Balfour !"
Whenever assistance was needed, Mr. Balfour gave it with ungrudging hand. The widow of a clergyman of the Church of England writes how Mr. Balfour—a strong Presbyterian, it must be remembered—noticing that her husband's health was failing, sent him abroad on two different occasions. More instances than we can find space to quote are given of Mr. Balfour's habit of lending a helping hand in the time of direst need. "Alexander Balfour!" says a clergyman whose words are quoted ; " if it had not been for him, I don't know that I should have been alive to-day. He used to come to me when I was run down by work that put a strain upon the heart as well as the body, and he would urge me to go to the country or the seaside for change, putting a cheque in my hand to enable me to do it : and here I am to this day."
We have dwelt upon these special acts of kindness not, of course, because they were the most important part of Mr. Balfour's charitable work, but because they show the human character of the man, and the strong love of doing kind- nesses to others which dominated his existence. Pro- bably his efforts to ameliorate the condition of the sailors in our ports constitute his greatest public claim to our regard. He saw clearly that the temporary and precarious nature of the employment offered to seamen was the chief cause of the intemperance and recklessness which so often characterise them, and his efforts were directed towards remedying the evil with intense earnestness. Though he failed in instituting a system of permanent employment for sailors, he contrived to do a great deal to provide com- fortable lodgings for them when on shore, where they would
not be at the mercy of crimps. Still more important, how- ever, was the part he took in founding an orphanage for the children of sailors lost at sea. The fact that every year more than four thousand English sailors die abroad, half at least by drowning, and that most of them leave behind widows and children, impressed him most strongly, and he desired above all things to do what he could to alleviate the terrible affliction which these figures prove to exist. The following quotation
from one of his speeches after the orphanage was founded, shows the spirit in which he worked :-
" If it were necessary, I could convince the meeting that we require, in conducting this institution successfully, to attend both to cases of outdoor and cases of indoor relief. We meet with such an instance as this : a respectable Christian widow, the mother of a family, applies to us for relief. She would prefer to train her own children herself, and does not want to give them up to us. Surely, for such a reason as strong maternal affection, a poor woman such as this ought not to be deprived of the benefits of our institution. Such is the mind of the committee, and I believe that it will be the mind of the general community entreat you, on behalf of myself and colleagues of the committee, not to put us in the position of being a responsible executive, without ample funds being given us to deal adequately, by means of outdoor and indoor relief, with this refuge of the orphan and the widow. Oh, the pain ! I declare it is heart-breaking to sit and hear the applications of those widows. I have pitied the chairman again and again in going through these cases, knowing
all their sadness without being able adequately to relieve it We have only to do our duty, and I know we shall not be the poorer, but shall have the blessing of God on what we give and what we have. Oh, don't let us stint the widow and orphan in this community, I do beseech you."
We cannot do better than close our notice of Mr. Balfour's Life than by quoting the words in which Mr. William Rathbone has described him. They are a fitting tribute to the kindly and devoted Liverpool worthy,—the friend of all who were
distressed, and the willing helper of all who needed help :-
" It is much more easy to feel than to express the loss that Liver- pool has sustained in Mr. Balfour's death. It is far greater than the loss of the direct influence of his generosity, great as that generosity was, or of his exertions to promote every good cause, unwearied as those exertions were. The influence he exercised over us all effected far more than his own means and time, devoted as they were to the service of his fellow-men, could have accom- plished. He united, in a degree I have rarely met with in any man, or even in any woman, the three Christian virtues of Faith, Hope, and Charity. He never seemed to doubt that any good object he undertook could be accomplished, or that those whose help he sought would be less willing to aid, than he himself was. By his genial faith and hope, he often made people what he ex- pected them to be ; and even when he failed to make the selfish unselfish, or the sordid generous, this did not seem to excite anger or contempt for the individual. I do not remember ever to have heard him express a harsh or severe judgment of any one ; he had indignation for the offence, but not for the offender. He was always disposed to exaggerate the sacrifices and exertions of others, while unconscious of his own. It was this mixture of enthusiasm, geniality, and simplicity of character which enabled him to carry others with him, and exert so powerful an influence in Liverpool, in promoting education and those schemes for the enlightenment and healthy occupation and amusement of the people, by which he hoped to diminish imtemperance and increase virtue and happiness amongst his fellow-men."
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