Document 45 p 4
| 92 | ||||
| acted immediately under |
||||
| preferred a Complaint of that Sort to Mr Smeaton? Who then | ||||
| was brought forward in Support of this Mighty Charge, which | ||||
| every man of Credit concerned in the Work knows to be an | ||||
| impudent Falsehood, no other than a Drunken Labourer – Sir | ||||
| the whole of this Attempt, as well as the Evidence adduced in support | ||||
| of it is, you will agree with me, too contemptible to deserve | ||||
| any further Comment – but notwithstanding the skill of the | ||||
| Engineer, and the liberal Zeal of the Undertaker the Enterprize has | ||||
| from a Combination of unfortunate Circumstances proved | ||||
| unsuccessful and the Question now is, what is to be done? | ||||
| My first Application was of Course to Mr Smeaton who as soon | ||||
| as he was in possession of every fact attending the Downfall of | ||||
| the Bridge & the State of the Bed of the River after the | ||||
| Waters had subsided, declared in the most positive Terms, that | ||||
| to attempt rebuilding would be imprudent in the extreme; that | ||||
| he could not execute it better, that the same Causes would | ||||
| inevitably produce the same Effects, & that he thought it | ||||
| impossible to be done with any reasonable hope of proving a permanent | ||||
| or successful Undertaking. & added moreover, that he had no blame to | ||||
| lay on any one concern'd under him in the execution of his Designs or | ||||
| Orders. When the first Engineer in England, or perhaps in | ||||
| Europe, a man as eminent for his Integrity as skill in his | ||||
| Profession, the Person whose Instructions I am by my Contract | ||||
| bound to obey in all things relating to this Work, made such a | ||||
| Declaration what I to do? No other I conceive than what I did | ||||
| do,- come down to you, expose to you the State of the Case with | ||||
| the Opinion of Mr Smeaton & his reasons in support of that | ||||
| Opinion, declaring myself at the same time willing to come into | ||||
| any Terms that should be thought reasonable in order to be | ||||
| released from an Engagement, which to persist in could possibly | ||||
| answer no good End to the Public must occasion a very [fruitless?] | ||||
| Expence to the Undertaker, & in the End prove burthensome to the | ||||
Note: Letter from Mr Errington to Mr Aynsley, 22 September 1783, p 4
Abbreviations are underlined like this Wm. and the expansion may be seen by moving the cursor over it.
| An entry outlined like this has a note which may be seen by hovering over it. |
Transcribed by CTW and KS