With the usual reluctance of Government departments to consider anything new, the War Office of the day was slow to believe in the superiority of the new field-piece; but when every fresh trial proved that superiority to be beyond doubt, the gun was adopted.  And then Mr. Armstrong showed the large-minded generosity which was so marked a feature of his character.  Holding in his hand—­as every man must, who possesses the secret of a new and superior engine of destruction—­the fate of nations, to be decided at his will, and with the knowledge that other powers were willing and eager to buy with any sum the skill of such an inventor, Mr. Armstrong presented to the British Government, as a free gift, the patents of his artillery; and he entered the Government service for a time, as Engineer to the War Department, in order to give them the benefit of his skill and special knowledge.

A knighthood was bestowed upon him, and he took up his new duties as Sir William Armstrong.  An Ordnance department was opened at Elswick, and the Government promised a continuance of orders above those that the Arsenal at Woolwich was able to fulfil.  All went well for a time, but after some years the connection between the Government and Elswick ceased; the Ordnance and Engineering works were then amalgamated into one concern, and Mr. George Rendel and Captain Noble—­now Sir Andrew Noble, and one of the greatest living authorities on explosives—­were placed in charge of the former.

Released from the agreement to make no guns except for the British Government, Elswick was open to receive other orders, which now began to roll in from all the world.  Elswick prospered greatly, until suddenly there came a check, in the shape of a strike for a nine hours day, in 1871.  After the strike had lasted for four and a half months, work was resumed; but the old genial relationship between masters and men had received a rude strain, and was never the same as before.

Shipbuilding had been taken up a year or two before this, but the earliest vessels were built to their order in Mr. Mitchell’s yard at Walker.  The first one was a small gunboat, the “Staunch,” built for the Admiralty.  In later years the Walker ship-yard was united to the Elswick enterprises, and a ship-yard at the latter place was also opened.

Meantime, Captain Noble had been experimenting further in artillery, and in 1877 another and better type of gun was produced.  It was adopted by the Government, and all guns since then have been modifications, more or less, of this type.  In 1876 the famous hundred-ton gun for Italy was made, and was taken on board the “Europa” to be carried to her destination; this vessel being the first to pass the newly-finished Swing Bridge, another outcome of the inventive genius of the head of the Elswick firm.  The gun, which was the largest in the world at that time, was lowered into the “Europa” by the largest pair of “sheer-legs” in existence, and was lifted out again at Spezzia by the largest hydraulic crane of that day, and all these were the work of the Elswick firm.