"I cannot," wrote Bacon, "call riches better than the baggage of virtue." Practically the dictum of the philosopher has been endorsed by Mr. James Baird of Cambusdoon, who, along with his brothers who have predeceased him, has set a noble example in regard to both the acquisition and the distribution of wealth. Few men have been so fortunate in laying up treasure on earth; few have been so zealous of those good works which realise treasure on the other side of Time. For nearly half a century the name of Baird has been a household word in the West of Scotland. Ranking as they have done for many years as the largest employers of labour in Scotland, they must ever continue to occupy a foremost place in our commercial annals. But while they have thus been "diligent in business," they have also been "fervent in spirit." Possessing the power that belongs to wealth, they have not been unmindful of its accompanying responsibilities and duties. In the promotion of education, in the support of Church and missionary objects, in aiding the amelioration of their less fortunate fellow-creatures, and in the dispensation of that charity which covers a multitude of sins they have made their vast wealth subordinate to the service of their day and generation—the humble but yet potent means to the most beneficent ends. By every consideration, therefore, the honoured name of Baird is entitled to a place in these sketches.

Mr. James Baird of Cambusdoon is the only survivor of a family of eight sons, whose ancestors for several generations followed the primitive occupation of farming in the parish of Old Monkland. The father of the proprietors of Gartsherrie Ironworks was tenant of Kirkwood, Newmains, and High Cross farms. Of his numerous family, William, who died recently, after having attained the rare distinction of a millionaire, was the eldest, having been born in the year 1796; James, who was six years his junior, was born in 1802. The older members of the family received their education at the parish school of Old Monkland, under the late Mr. Cowan—one of a class of teachers who were qualified to impart something more than the mere rudiments of a solid classical education, and who have assisted so materially to place the parochial school system of Scotland on the high vantage ground from which, unless present appearances are deceptive, it is in danger of being hurled by the operation of the Education Act now under the consideration of Parliament. For the younger members of his family, Mr. Baird was enabled to provide the benefits of a University curriculum. It will not be necessary to refer to the head of the family further than to say that he lived to assist, by his judicious counsel and shrewd penetration, in founding the works at Gartsherrie, from which his family have since derived such a wide-spread fame.

Half a century ago, the inducements to enter upon an industrial career were much more limited than they are at the present day. The industries of the West of Scotland were then few and comparatively uninviting. The iron trade was in its infancy, and those engaged in it lacked the resources for the acquisition of wealth that were evolved from the discovery of blackband mineral deposits by Mushet, the application of the hot blast by Neilson, and the introduction of other more economical modes of working. Mr. James Baird did more than any other ironmaster in Scotland to carry out to its full and perfect development the principle of hot blast, and he greatly aided the success of Mr. Neilson's invention by designing appliances which enabled the air to be heated to a high temperature without destroying the apparatus. Many other important improvements, which rendered iron-making much more easy and simple, were soon afterwards carried out under Mr. Baird's auspices, including the adoption of the modern shape of the blast furnace, which is very much less in bulk and first cost than the furnaces used in the early history of the trade. We believe that Mr. Baird was the very first to introduce the modern shape of the blast furnace. It was a distinguishing feature in Mr. Baird's character that he excelled in suggesting and applying different modes of saving labour in every department, and so thoroughly skilled was he in all the various processes of manufacture, that every workman with whom he came in contact regarded him as a master of his handicraft. More than any other member of his family, Mr. Baird exercised practical authority over all structural and mechanical arrangements as well as over the mineral workings leased by or belonging to the firm. So late as the year 1830, the total number of blast furnaces in Scotland was only seven, and their capacity of production did not exceed 10,000 tons per annum. Last year, the total production of the 154 furnaces in Scotland was 1,164,000 tons, representing an aggregate value of not less than £3,000,000! A single glance at these figures will convey an adequate idea of the progress made in the interval; they require neither note nor comment. The Messrs Baird had little prospect before them other than that afforded by the pursuit of agriculture, in which their forefathers had engaged. But William, with characteristic enterprise, resolved that he would not be tied to the soil. Commencing on a very humble scale, with only a day level and a gin pit, at Rochsolloch, he was favoured by fortune in his development of the little colliery. His brothers joined the venture, and in a short time they were able to extend their operations to Maryston and Gartsherrie. On the 4th May, 1830, they put in blast the first furnace in the latter place, thus laying, perhaps with fear and trembling, the foundations of an establishment which is now one of the largest of its kind in the world. This was the tide in their affairs which, taken at its flood, led on to fortune. Although they have experienced, in common with all others similarly situated, the occasional vicissitudes of bad times, they were not only able from henceforth to keep their heads above water, but they continued to go forth "prospering and to prosper." In 1846 they started the Eglinton Ironworks, at which there are now eight blast furnaces. Six years later they acquired the Blair Ironworks, with five blast furnaces. In 1856, the Lugar and the Muirkirk Ironworks came into the market, and the Messrs. Baird became the purchasers. The latter works embrace a small manufactory of malleable iron, and the two together have seven blast furnaces. In 1864, the firm still further extended their now enormous business by the acquisition of the Portland Ironworks, with five blast furnaces, to which one has since been added. At the present time they own, inclusive of Gartsherrie, at which there are 16 blast furnaces, a grand total of 42 blast furnaces, 30 of which are now (March, 1872) in operation. The total produce of iron from the whole of these works will average 750 tons per day.

Of the Gartsherrie Ironworks—the largest establishment of its kind in Scotland—it may be interesting to state that it gives employment to 3200 men and boys, and turns out 100,000 tons of pig iron per annum. The consumpt of coal at Gartsherrie is upwards of 1000 tons per day. Ever since 1826 Messrs. Baird have been working coal in Gartsherrie estate, so that a considerable part of the coal consumed has been found adjoining the works. Pits are still being worked to some extent there, but it is now found necessary to look elsewhere for coal. We understand the future supply is to be derived mainly from the district of Bothwell, where there is a very large virgin field of coal—indeed, evidently the most important in Scotland—from which the public must ere long begin to draw their principal supplies. The ironstone for the Gartsherrie works is now brought from a considerable distance; formerly it was found within from one to five miles from the furnaces. It is a distinctive peculiarity of the huge establishment that it is divided by the Monkland Canal, the blast furnaces standing in two parallel rows on each side of that highway. Taking the whole of their works together, the Messrs. Baird employ fully 9000 men and boys, and if we multiply this number by three, which is a moderate figure, we get 27,000 souls as the number dependent on the works of the firm. It is quite within the record to declare that the Messrs. Baird, who turn out annually one-fourth of the entire production of Scotland, are the largest pig iron makers in the world.

As landed proprietors, the Messrs. Baird have attained a pre-eminent position in the West of Scotland. Besides his estate of Cambusdoon in Ayrshire, which he purchased in 1853 for the sum of £22,000, Mr. James Baird owns the estate of Knoydart, in Inverness-shire, for which in 1857 he paid £90,000. In 1863 he purchased the estate of Muirkirk, at the price of £135,000, and he owns other properties in Ayrshire of considerable value. On the death of his brother Robert, who died in 1856, he acquired the estate of Auchmedden, Aberdeenshire, which three years previously had been purchased for the sum of £60,000. The other members of the family have found an equally conspicuous place in "Burke's Landed Gentry." William, who died in March, 1864, was proprietor of the estates of Rosemount, in Ayrshire, and Elie, in Fifeshire, the former purchased in 1853 for £47,000, and the latter in the same year for £155,000. John was proprietor of the estates of Lochwood, in Lanarkshire, and Ury, in Kincardineshire, the latter being a gift from his brothers, by arrangement with William, who inherited it from his father, by whom it was purchased in 1826; while Ury was bequeathed by his brother Alexander, who purchased it in 1854 for the sum of £120,000. Douglas, the sixth son, acquired the estate of Closeburn, in Dumfriesshire, for the sum of £225,000. George, a still younger member of the family, was proprietor of the estate of Strichen, in Aberdeenshire, and Stichell, in Roxburghshire—the former purchased in 1865 for the sum of £145,000, and the latter inherited from his brother David, who purchased it in 1853 for the sum of £150,000. The family thus own estates representing in round numbers nearly two millions of capital, in addition to what they hold as a company in the shape of mineral fields.

Although it is probably in the annals of commerce that the Messrs. Baird will find their most lasting monument, they have not been unknown in the arena of politics. William sat in Parliament for the Falkirk District of Burghs from 1841 till 1846, when he accepted the Chiltern Hundreds, and Lord Lincoln reigned in his stead. In 1851, however, the seat again became vacant, consequent upon Lincoln succeeding to the title and estates of the Duke of Newcastle. James Baird then took the field in opposition to Mr. Loch, factor to the Duke of Sutherland, and was returned by a majority of 55 votes. In the course of the following year a general election took place, and James again came forward as a candidate. This time he was opposed by Mr. Anderson, of London. The result of the election was a majority of 50 in favour of Mr. Baird. At the general election of 1857, he retired from the representation of Falkirk, and was succeeded by Mr. Hamilton, of Dalzeill, and afterwards by Mr. Merry, who has since continued to retain the seat. The politics of the family have always tended towards Conservatism, and for the support of the "good old cause" Mr. James Baird has exercised all his influence, both moral and material.

The educational interests of the West of Scotland owe a deep debt of gratitude to the Baird family, who have made provision in various ways for the instruction of upwards of 4000 children. In addition to having established schools in almost every locality where their workmen are employed, they have built and supported schools other than those connected with their works. One of the latter is now in progress of erection at Townhead, Glasgow, a poor and populous locality, with but a limited access to the means of education. Another school is just in course of being erected at the east end of Coatbridge, the expenses of which will be entirely defrayed by Mr. James Baird, who has all along taken on active interest in the progress of education. On the 20th December, 1871, he presided at the meeting held in the City Hall, Glasgow, with the view of recommending the continuance of religious instruction in day schools. On that occasion he pleaded eloquently and ably for a programme which contained three leading propositions—(1) the maintenance of the religious instruction that had hitherto been the use and wont of the country; (2) the management of the parochial and other schools of Scotland by the people themselves, instead of by a Board in London, which could know but little respecting the educational wants of the country; and (3) that a proper training in secular and religious knowledge be provided for the teachers, along with a due remuneration for their labours. Mr. Baird then proceeded to show that there was a danger of allowing the education of the country to become secularised, and that the word religion, which only appeared twice in the Education Bill, was inserted in the sense of forbidding it to be taught at all. With reference to the support of education, Mr. Baird expressed a clearly defined opinion, of which we quote the ipsissima verba. "I have," he said, "a strong and conscientious objection that any of my money, whether exacted from me by rates and taxes, should be expended in teaching secular knowledge unless it is permeated by religion, and I believe I shall be joined by an overwhelming majority of the people of Scotland in that objection." ... "Religious and Scriptural education is what we are contending for, and religious education we must have, even should the State withdraw its support, which is a thing not likely to be done." These are the words of one who has evidently "read, marked, learned, and inwardly digested" the whole subject of education, and is prepared, at whatever sacrifice or cost, to stand up for a system of instruction that shall embrace preparation not only for the duties and exigencies of this life but also for that which is to come. And the views of such a man have all the more weight that they accompany and flow from a sincere desire and a tangible readiness to afford practical support to the cause of education.

But if education owes much to the generosity and practical sympathy of the Messrs. Baird, the Church has still more reason to register their names in its roll of attached friends. With reference to Mr. James Baird, it may be fitly said that he is "a pillar in Israel." He is conservative to the extent of maintaining unimpaired all the institutions of the Church; but patronage, and other plague-spots in her bright and noble constitution, he would utterly abolish. Progress has long been his watchword, but it is in the direction of building up and not of pulling down. He is not an iconoclast for the mere sake of change. But he would remove out of the pathway of the Church all that would hinder from the efficient discharge of her mission. Above all, he is averse to a policy of laissez faire. Believing that the Church has failed to meet the increasing wants of the people, he is an eager advocate and a liberal and intelligent supporter of missionary schemes. At an ordination dinner held in Glasgow in 1868, Mr. Baird delivered an address, in the course of which he pointed out that the missions of the Church were in a languid state, and dragged along a dreary and miserable existence. Although there were from 12,000 to 15,000 young men and women arriving in Glasgow every year at an age when they should become members of some church, the Establishment was getting barely sufficient from that multitude to maintain its old numbers. He was afraid, he added, that a great many had not the chance of joining any church, as none of the churches were increasing in proportion to the population of the city; and that, therefore, they would go on to swell the ranks of heathenism and materialism. The results of the investigations recently carried out in this city, amply vindicate Mr. Baird's almost prophetic remarks. Mr. Johnston's pamphlets on the religious wants of Glasgow; pamphlets issued on the same subject by Mr. Alexander Whitelaw, Mr. Baird's hearty coadjutor in every good word and work; and the inquiries made under the auspices of the association established for the purpose of inquiring into the religious destitution of Glasgow, all tend to prove that there are from 100,000 to 160,000 souls living without the means of grace, and in a state of practical heathenism, in a city that can boast of a Knox, a Chalmers, and other apostles of Christianity. Thus, although Mr. Baird's figures appeared startling, and although his forebodings may have seemed unnecessary, they have turned out to be rather under than beyond the mark. But the zeal of Mr. Baird did not stop at merely pointing out the evil. He exerted himself most assiduously to provide a remedy. We believe he was one of the promoters of a society formed for the purpose of extending the church accommodation of Glasgow, and especially for the building of new churches in neglected and necessitous localities. That society has already done the Church some service. It aims at removing from the Establishment the stigma that she has failed to keep pace with the requirements of the population; and, despite the difficult and arduous character of the work which it has assigned itself, the association is likely to succeed in making "rough places plain and crooked paths straight."

We may add that Mr. Baird has been twice married. His first marriage was in 1852, to Charlotte Lockhart of Cambusnethan, who died at Nice, in Italy, in 1857. In 1859 he espoused Isabella Agnew Hay, daughter of the late Admiral Hay. Although he is still the principal of the firm, Mr. Baird takes no very active part in the conduct of the business, the management devolving upon the other partners.