A GLASGOW ENGINEER'S CAREER IN FRANCE.

Thames Advertiser, Volume XIV, Issue 4139, 23 January 1882, Page 3

A GLASGOW ENGINEER'S CAREER IN FRANCE.

Tub marriago was announced the othftr day >,', - of Mdlle. Gre*vy, the only daughter of the,.. President of thoFrench Republic, with M.,,- •, Daniel Wilson, Under-secrotary of State <■! for Finance, and one of tho ablest of the r youngcr statesmen of tho Republic. M.' ••* Wilson, whose , British name gives addi- ' tional interest to tho event among Englishmen, is tho eon of a man who wiis Well',' j known to the men of his time! About the ',;''' year. 1824 M. Chagot, the proprietor of;,,'. Creuzot, applied to Mr Manby—" Iron '• . Mauby," as he was culled, the President of, ,j'; the Society of Engineers, and one oil tho \- :]y . first to make largo iron bridges-for. a '.'•' young English engineer to superintend tho \ .* casting oil lmiro blocks of iron. ■Mr Manby .' chose a promising young Scotchman, tho ' son of a Glasgow engineer, a young follow, • f full of all tho startling now appliances that" • were then working wonders in our industrial contrcs. This young engineer was M, |W •; Wilson, tho father of tho present Under-,' ' ( secretary. Once in Franco, ho found a > vast field open to tho now English, inven- \ tions. Ho worked for some time at Creuzot. .; i It was ho who constructed tho machinery : ■.■>! for tho Government tobacco factory. Later od, with tho co-operation of jM.Dosno",: " ! the father-in-law of M. Thiers, of M. Thiers himself, of M. Baranto, and a number of the more enterprising spirits'of '• the time, ho founded tho Clmrontan Foundry , near Paris, ho himself taking 1 the manage-",' raent of it, It was he, too, who displayed'i: that first ; steady little fliuno of gas attho ,•' Cafe do Boulevards wliioh warmed tho ■„ Parisians into enthusiasm for the now modo ', . of lighting, and who thereafter obtained. ■ tho concession from the municipality and ■ M led,to tho foundation of the prosperous company that still enjoys the monopoly of the gas supply of Paris. A few years before his death M. Wilson married tho daughter of M. Cazenove, who was one of tho few inombersof the Convention .who ;ii voted against the execution of the' King,' ,l, ' and who afterwards became Vice-president of the Corps Legislatif, , Ho died,at 50,, years of age; shortly after the deceaso of his'' ( ' ! wifejeavingtwyoungorphans-a daughter , f now Madame Pclonzo, the proprietress ripd' , /' restorer oE tho historic chateau of-Olibnati- ' ceaiix, and her brother, M. Daniel,, Wilson. The son has the reputation, of possessing all the North British vigour.of his father. , In 1867 ho wrested from an official competitor a seat in the hitherto strongly Bonapartist Touraino. and he became at 27 years of age one of tlmt littlo knot of men who, headed by M. Grovy, prepared the way for tho adoption of the present form of government of France. A leading authority on railway matters, the spokesman of the Budget Committee, an assiduous attendant at tho Chamber, his broad u _. muscular back and Anglo-Saxon; head"' • always being visible in his seat among the " front benches; and,by-tho-way,anaccom- ' plisheci linguist) M. Wilson, after having' ..,'. been offered tlu post of Minister of Com-. ~ merco in the Waddington Cabinet, first took office with the preeent chief—M, ; Maginn. With M. Maginn ho will no doubt, if thinge turn out as expected, for some time become a private member again; but, as ono of the ablest'specialists .'' • in the Chamber, and a man without mill- ' tant party views, ho is too valuable to a ; Cabinet to , 'remain long in tho cold.-./ rimes, Paris CorreepOndont. . ■■ .',