THE LIVERPOOL AND MANCHESTER RAILWAY PROJECTED.
The rapid growth of the trade and manufactures of South Lancashire gave
rise, about the year 1821, to the project of a tramroad for the
conveyance of goods between Liverpool and Manchester. Since the
construction of the Bridgewater Canal by Brindley, some fifty years
before, the increase in the business transacted between the two towns had
become quite marvellous. The steam-engine, the spinning-jenny, and the
canal, working together, had accumulated in one focus a vast aggregate of
population, manufactures, and trade.
Such was the expansion of business caused by the inventions to which we
have referred, that the navigation was found altogether inadequate to
accommodate the traffic, which completely outgrew all the Canal
Companies' appliances of wharves, boats, and horses. Cotton lay at
Liverpool for weeks together, waiting to be removed; and it occupied a
longer time to transport the cargoes from Liverpool to Manchester than it
had done to bring them across the Atlantic from the United States to
England. Carts and waggons were tried, but proved altogether
insufficient. Sometimes manufacturing operations had to be suspended
altogether, and during a frost, when the canals were frozen up, the
communication was entirely stopped. The consequences were often
disastrous, alike to operatives, merchants, and manufacturers.
Expostulation with the Canal Companies was of no use. They were
overcrowded with business at their own prices, and disposed to be very
dictatorial. When the Duke first constructed his canal, he had to
encounter the fierce opposition of the Irwell and Mersey Navigation,
whose monopoly his new line of water conveyance threatened to interfere
with. {147} But the innovation of one generation often becomes the
obstruction of the next. The Duke's agents would scarcely listen to the
remonstrances of the Liverpool merchants and Manchester manufacturers,
and the Bridgewater Canal was accordingly, in its turn, denounced as a
monopoly.
Under these circumstances, any new mode of transit between the two towns
which offered a reasonable prospect of relief was certain to receive a
cordial welcome. The scheme of a tramroad was, however, so new and
comparatively untried, that it is not surprising that the parties
interested should have hesitated before committing themselves to it. Mr.
Sandars, a Liverpool merchant, was amongst the first to broach the
subject. He had suffered in his business, in common with many others,
from the insufficiency of the existing modes of communication, and was
ready to give consideration to any plan presenting elements of practical
efficiency which proposed a remedy for the generally admitted grievance.
Having caused inquiry to be made as to the success which had attended the
haulage of heavy coal-trains by locomotive power on the northern
railways, he was led to the opinion that the same means might be equally
efficient in conducting the increasing traffic in merchandise between
Liverpool and Manchester. He ventilated the subject amongst his friends,
and about the beginning of 1821 a committee was formed for the purpose of
bringing the scheme of a railroad before the public.
The novel project having become noised abroad, attracted the attention of
the friends of railways in other quarters. Tramroads were by no means
new expedients for the transit of heavy articles. The Croydon and
Wandsworth Railway, laid down by William Jessop as early as the year
1801, had been regularly used for the conveyance of lime and stone in
waggons hauled by mules or donkeys from Merstham to London. The sight of
this humble railroad in 1813 led Sir Richard Phillips in his 'Morning
Walk to Kew' to anticipate the great advantages which would be derived by
the nation from the general adoption of Blenkinsop's engine for the
conveyance of mails and passengers at ten or even fifteen miles an hour.
In the same year we find Mr. Lovell Edgworth, who had for fifty years
been advocating the superiority of tram or rail roads over common roads,
writing to James Watt (7th August, 1813): "I have always thought that
steam would become the universal lord, and that we should in time scorn
post-horses; an iron railroad would be a cheaper thing than a road upon
the common construction."
Thomas Gray, of Nottingham, was another speculator on the same subject.
Though he was no mechanic nor inventor, he had an enthusiastic belief in
the powers of the railroad system. Being a native of Leeds, he had, when
a boy, seen Blenkinsop's locomotive at work on the Middleton cogged
railroad, and from an early period he seems to have entertained almost as
sanguine views on the subject as Sir Richard Phillips. It would appear
that Gray was residing in Brussels in 1816, when the project of a canal
from Charleroi, for the purpose of connecting Holland with the mining
districts of Belgium, was the subject of discussion; and, in conversation
with Mr. John Cockerill and others, he took the opportunity of advocating
the superior advantages of a railway. He was absorbed for some time with
the preparation of a pamphlet on the subject. He shut himself up,
secluded from his wife and relations, declining to give them any
information as to his mysterious studies, beyond the assurance that his
scheme "would revolutionise the whole face of the material world and of
society." In 1820 Mr. Gray published the result of his studies in his
'Observations on a General Iron Railway,' in which, with great cogency,
he urged the superiority of a locomotive railway over common roads and
canals, pointing out, at the same time, the advantages to all classes of
the community of this mode of conveyance for merchandise and persons. In
this book Mr. Gray suggested a railway between Manchester and Liverpool,
"which," he observed, "would employ many thousands of the distressed
population of Lancashire." The treatise must have met with a ready sale,
as we find that two years later it had passed into a fourth edition. In
1822 Mr. Gray added diagrams to the book, showing, in one, suggested
lines of railway connecting the principal towns of England, and in
another, the principal towns of Ireland.
These speculations show that the subject of railways was gradually
becoming familiar to the public mind, and that thoughtful men were
anticipating with confidence the adoption of steam-power for the purposes
of railway traction. At the same time, a still more profitable class of
labourers was at work--first, men like Stephenson, who were engaged in
improving the locomotive and making it a practicable and economical
working power; and next, those like Edward Pease of Darlington, and
Joseph Sandars of Liverpool, who were organising the means of laying down
the railways. Mr. William James, of West Bromwich, belonged to the
active class of projectors. He was a man of considerable social
influence, of an active temperament, and had from an early period taken a
warm interest in the formation of tramroads. Acting as land-agent for
gentlemen of property in the mining districts, he had laid down several
tramroads in the neighbourhood of Birmingham, Gloucester, and Bristol;
and he published many pamphlets urging their formation in other places.
At one period of his life he was a large iron-manufacturer. The times,
however, went against him. It was thought he was too bold, some
considered him even reckless, in his speculations; and he lost almost his
entire fortune. He continued to follow the business of a land-agent, and
it was while engaged in making a survey for one of his clients in the
neighbourhood of Liverpool early in 1821, that he first heard of the
project of a railway between that town and Manchester. He at once called
upon Mr. Sandars, and offered his services as surveyor of the proposed
line, and his offer was accepted.
[Picture: Map of Liverpool and Manchester Railway. (Western Part.)]
[Picture: Map of Liverpool and Manchester Railway. (Eastern Part.)]
A trial survey was then begun, but it was conducted with great
difficulty, the inhabitants of the district entertaining the most violent
prejudices against the scheme. In some places Mr. James and his surveying
party even encountered personal violence. The farmers stationed men at
the field-gates with pitchforks, and sometimes with guns, to drive them
back. At St. Helen's, one of the chainmen was laid hold of by a mob of
colliers, and threatened to be hurled down a coal-pit. A number of men,
women, and children, collected and ran after the surveyors wherever they
made their appearance, bawling nicknames and throwing stones at them. As
one of the chainmen was climbing over a gate one day, a labourer made at
him with a pitchfork, and ran it through his clothes into his back; other
watchers running up, the chainman, who was more stunned than hurt, took
to his heels and fled. But that mysterious-looking instrument---the
theodolite---most excited the fury of the natives, who concentrated on
the man who carried it their fiercest execrations and most offensive
nicknames.
A powerful fellow, a noted bruiser, was hired by the surveyors to carry
the instrument, with a view to its protection against all assailants; but
one day an equally powerful fellow, a St. Helen's collier, cock of the
walk in his neighbourhood, made up to the theodolite bearer to wrest it
from him by sheer force. A battle took place, the collier was soundly
pummelled, but the natives poured in volleys of stones upon the surveyors
and their instruments, and the theodolite was smashed to pieces.
An outline-survey having at length been made, notices were published of
an intended application to Parliament. In the mean time Mr. James
proceeded to Killingworth to see Stephenson's locomotives at work.
Stephenson was not at home at the time, but James saw his engines, and
was very much struck by their power and efficiency. He saw at a glance
the magnificent uses to which the locomotive might be applied. "Here,"
said he, "is an engine that will, before long, effect a complete
revolution in society." Returning to Moreton-in-the-Marsh, he wrote to
Mr. Losh (Stephenson's partner in the patent) expressing his admiration
of the Killingworth engine. "It is," said he, "the greatest wonder of
the age, and the forerunner, as I firmly believe, of the most important
changes in the internal communications of the kingdom." Shortly after,
Mr. James, accompanied by his two sons, made a second journey to
Killingworth, where he met both Losh and Stephenson. The visitors were
at once taken to where the locomotive was working, and invited to mount
it. The uncouth and extraordinary appearance of the machine, as it came
snorting along, was somewhat alarming to the youths, who expressed their
fears lest it should burst; and they were with some difficulty induced to
mount.
The engine went through its usual performances, dragging a heavy load of
coal-waggons at about six miles an hour, with apparent ease, at which Mr.
James expressed his extreme satisfaction, and declared to Mr. Losh his
opinion that Stephenson "was the greatest practical genius of the age,"
and that, "if he developed the full powers of that engine (the
locomotive), his fame in the world would rank equal with that of Watt."
Mr. James informed Stephenson and Losh of his survey of the proposed
tramroad between Liverpool and Manchester, and did not hesitate to state
that he would thenceforward advocate the construction of a locomotive
railroad instead of the tramroad which had originally been proposed.
Stephenson and Losh were naturally desirous of enlisting James's good
services on behalf of their patent locomotive, for as yet it had proved
comparatively unproductive. They believed that he might be able so to
advocate it in influential quarters as to ensure its more extensive
adoption, and with this object they proposed to give him an interest in
the patent. Accordingly they assigned him one-fourth of any profits
which might be derived from the use of the patent locomotive on any
railways constructed south of a line drawn across England from Liverpool
to Hull. The arrangement, however, led to no beneficial results. Mr.
James endeavoured to introduce the engine on the Moreton-on-Marsh
Railway; but it was opposed by the engineer of the line, and the attempt
failed. He next urged that a locomotive should be sent for trial upon
the Merstham tramroad; but, anxious though Stephenson was respecting its
extended employment, he was too cautious to risk an experiment which
might only bring discredit upon the engine; and the Merstham road being
only laid with cast-iron plates, which would not bear its weight, the
invitation was declined.
It turned out that the first survey of the Liverpool and Manchester line
was very imperfect, and it was determined to have a second and more
complete one made in the following year. Robert Stephenson was sent over
by his father to Liverpool to assist in this survey. He was present with
Mr. James on the occasion on which he tried to lay out the line across
Chat Moss,--a proceeding which was not only difficult but dangerous. The
Moss was very wet at the time, and only its edges could be ventured on.
Mr. James was a heavy, thick-set man; and one day, when endeavouring to
obtain a stand for his theodolite, he felt himself suddenly sinking. He
immediately threw himself down, and rolled over and over until he reached
firm ground again, in a sad mess. Other attempts which he subsequently
made to enter upon the Moss for the same purpose, were abandoned for the
same reason--the want of a solid stand for the theodolite.
On the 4th October, 1822, we find Mr. James writing to Mr. Sandars, "I
came last night to send my aid, Robert Stephenson, to his father, and
to-morrow I shall pay off Evans and Hamilton, two other assistants. I
have now only Messrs. Padley and Clarke to finish the copy of plans for
Parliament, which will be done in about a week or nine days' time." It
would appear however, that, notwithstanding all his exertions, Mr. James
was unable to complete his plans and estimates in time for the ensuing
Session; and another year was thus lost. The Railroad Committee became
impatient at the delay. Mr. James's financial embarrassments reached
their climax; and, what with illness and debt, he was no longer in a
position to fulfil his promises to the Committee. They were, therefore,
under the necessity of calling to their aid some other engineer.
Mr. Sandars had by this time visited George Stephenson at Killingworth,
and, like all who came within reach of his personal influence, was
charmed with him at first sight. The energy which he had displayed in
carrying on the works of the Stockton and Darlington Railway, now
approaching completion; his readiness to face difficulties, and his
practical ability in overcoming them; the enthusiasm which he displayed
on the subject of railways and railway locomotion,--concurred in
satisfying Mr. Sandars that he was, of all men, the best calculated to
help forward the Liverpool undertaking at this juncture. On his return
he stated this opinion to the Committee, who approved his recommendation,
and George Stephenson was unanimously appointed engineer of the projected
railway.
It will be observed that Mr. Sandars had held to his original purpose
with great determination and perseverance, and he gradually succeeded in
enlisting on his side an increasing number of influential merchants and
manufacturers both at Liverpool and Manchester. Early in 1824 he
published a pamphlet, in which he strongly urged the great losses and
interruptions to the trade of the district by the delays in the
forwarding of merchandise; and in the same year he had a Public
Declaration drawn up, and signed by upwards of 150 of the principal
merchants of Liverpool, setting forth that they considered "the present
establishments for the transport of goods quite inadequate, and that a
new line of conveyance has become absolutely necessary to conduct the
increasing trade of the country with speed, certainty, and economy."
A public meeting was then held to consider the best plan to be adopted,
and resolutions were passed in favour of a railroad. A committee was
appointed to take the necessary measures; but, as if reluctant to enter
upon their arduous struggle with the "vested interests," they first
waited on Mr. Bradshaw, the Duke of Bridgewater's canal agent, in the
hope of persuading him to increase the means of conveyance, as well as to
reduce the charges; but they were met by an unqualified refusal. They
suggested the expediency of a railway, and invited Mr. Bradshaw to become
a proprietor of shares in it. But his reply was--"All or none!" The
canal proprietors, confident in their imagined security, ridiculed the
proposed railway as a chimera. It had been spoken about years before,
and nothing had come of it then: it would be the same now.
In order to form a better opinion as to the practicability of the
railroad, a deputation of gentlemen interested in the project proceeded
to Killingworth, to inspect the engines which had been so long in use
there. They first went to Darlington, where they found the works of the
Stockton line in progress, though still unfinished. Proceeding next to
Killingworth with Mr. Stephenson, they there witnessed the performances
of his locomotive engines. The result of their visit was, on the whole,
so satisfactory, that on their report being delivered to the committee at
Liverpool, it was finally determined to form a company of proprietors for
the construction of a double line of railway between Liverpool and
Manchester.
The first prospectus of the scheme was dated the 29th October, 1824, and
had attached to it the names of the leading merchants of Liverpool and
Manchester. It was a modest document, very unlike the inflated balloons
which were sent up by railway speculators in succeeding years. It set
forth as its main object the establishment of a safe and cheap mode of
transit for merchandise, by which the conveyance of goods between the two
towns would be effected in 5 or 6 hours (instead of 36 hours by the
canal), whilst the charges would be reduced one-third. On looking at the
prospectus now, it is curious to note that, while the advantages
anticipated from the carriage of merchandise were strongly insisted upon,
the conveyance of passengers--which proved to be the chief source of
profit--was only very cautiously referred to. "As a cheap and
expeditious means of conveyance for travellers," says the prospectus in
conclusion, "the railway holds out the fair prospect of a public
accommodation, the magnitude and importance of which cannot be
immediately ascertained." The estimated expense of forming the line was
set down at 400,000 pounds,--a sum which was eventually found quite
inadequate. The subscription list when opened was filled up without
difficulty.
While the project was still under discussion, its promoters, desirous of
removing the doubts which existed as to the employment of steam power on
the proposed railway, sent a second deputation to Killingworth for the
purpose of again observing the action of Stephenson's engines. The
cautious projectors of the railway were not yet quite satisfied; and a
third journey was made to Killingworth, in January, 1825, by several
gentlemen of the committee, accompanied by practical engineers, for the
purpose of being personal eye-witnesses of what steam-carriages were able
to perform upon a railway. There they saw a train, consisting of a
locomotive and loaded waggons, weighing in all 54 tons, travelling at the
average rate of about 7 miles an hour, the greatest speed being about 9.5
miles an hour. But when the engine was run with only one waggon attached
containing twenty gentlemen, five of whom were engineers, the speed
attained was from 10 to 12 miles an hour.
In the mean time the survey was proceeded with, in the face of great
opposition from the proprietors of the lands through which the railway
was intended to pass. The prejudices of the farming and labouring
classes were strongly excited against the persons employed upon the
ground, and it was with the greatest difficulty that the levels could be
taken. At one place, Stephenson was driven off the ground by the
keepers, and threatened to be ducked in the pond if found there again.
The farmers also turned out their men to watch the surveying party, and
prevent them entering upon any lands where they had the power of driving
them off.
One of the proprietors declared that he would order his game-keepers to
shoot or apprehend any persons attempting a survey over his property.
But one moonlight night a survey was obtained by the following ruse.
Some men, under the orders of the surveying party, were set to fire off
guns in a particular quarter; on which all the game-keepers on the watch
made off in that direction, and they were drawn away to such a distance
in pursuit of the supposed poachers, as to enable a rapid survey to be
made during their absence.
When the canal companies found that the Liverpool merchants were
determined to proceed with their scheme--that they had completed their
survey, and were ready to apply to Parliament for an Act to enable them
to form the railway--they at last reluctantly, and with a bad grace, made
overtures of conciliation. They promised to employ steam-vessels both on
the Mersey and on the Canal. One of the companies offered to reduce its
length by three miles, at a considerable outlay. At the same time they
made a show of lowering their rates. But it was too late; for the
project of the railway had now gone so far that the promoters (who might
have been conciliated by such overtures at an earlier period) felt they
were fully committed to it, and that now they could not well draw back.
Besides, the remedies offered by the canal companies could only have had
the effect of staving off the difficulty for a brief season,--the
absolute necessity of forming a new line of communication between
Liverpool and Manchester becoming more urgent from year to year.
Arrangements were therefore made for proceeding with the bill in the
parliamentary session of 1825.
On this becoming known, the canal companies prepared to resist the
measure tooth and nail. The public were appealed to on the subject;
pamphlets were written and newspapers were hired to revile the railway.
It was declared that its formation would prevent cows grazing and hens
laying. The poisoned air from the locomotives would kill birds as they
flew over them, and render the preservation of pheasants and foxes no
longer possible. Householders adjoining the projected line were told
that their houses would be burnt up by the fire thrown from the
engine-chimneys; while the air around would be polluted by clouds of
smoke. There would no longer be any use for horses; and if railways
extended, the species would become extinguished, and oats and hay be
rendered unsaleable commodities. Travelling by rail would be highly
dangerous, and country inns would be ruined. Boilers would burst and
blow passengers to atoms. But there was always this consolation to wind
up with--that the weight of the locomotive would completely prevent its
moving, and that railways, even if made, could _never_ be worked by
steam-power.
Indeed, when Mr. Stephenson, at the interviews with counsel, held
previous to the Liverpool and Manchester bill going into Committee of the
House of Commons, confidently stated his expectation of being able to
impel his locomotive at the rate of 20 miles an hour, Mr. William
Brougham, who was retained by the promoters to conduct their case,
frankly told him that if he did not moderate his views, and bring his
engine within a _reasonable_ speed, he would "inevitably damn the whole
thing, and be himself regarded as a maniac fit only for Bedlam."
The idea thrown out by Stephenson, of travelling at a rate of speed
double that of the fastest mail-coach, appeared at the time so
preposterous that he was unable to find any engineer who would risk his
reputation in supporting such "absurd views." Speaking of his isolation
at the time, he subsequently observed, at a public meeting of railway men
in Manchester: "He remembered the time when he had very few supporters in
bringing out the railway system--when he sought England over for an
engineer to support him in his evidence before Parliament, and could find
only one man, James Walker, but was afraid to call that gentleman,
because he knew nothing about railways. He had then no one to tell his
tale to but Mr. Sandars, of Liverpool, who did listen to him, and kept
his spirits up; and his schemes had at length been carried out only by
dint of sheer perseverance."
George Stephenson's idea was at that time regarded as but the dream of a
chimerical projector. It stood before the public friendless, struggling
hard to gain a footing, scarcely daring to lift itself into notice for
fear of ridicule. The civil engineers generally rejected the notion of a
Locomotive Railway; and when no leading man of the day could be found to
stand forward in support of the Killingworth mechanic, its chances of
success must indeed have been pronounced but small.
When such was the hostility of the civil engineers, no wonder the
reviewers were puzzled. The 'Quarterly,' in an able article in support
of the projected Liverpool and Manchester Railway,--while admitting its
absolute necessity, and insisting that there was no choice left but a
railroad, on which the journey between Liverpool and Manchester, whether
performed by horses or engines, would always be accomplished "within the
day,"--nevertheless scouted the idea of travelling at a greater speed
than eight or nine miles an hour. Adverting to a project for forming a
railway to Woolwich, by which passengers were to be drawn by locomotive
engines, moving with twice the velocity of ordinary coaches, the reviewer
observed:--"What can be more palpably absurd and ridiculous than the
prospect held out of locomotives travelling _twice as fast_ as
stagecoaches! We would as soon expect the people of Woolwich to suffer
themselves to be fired off upon one of Congreve's ricochet rockets, as
trust themselves to the mercy of such a machine going at such a rate. We
will back old Father Thames against the Woolwich Railway for any sum. We
trust that Parliament will, in all railways it may sanction, limit the
speed to _eight or nine miles an hour_, which we entirely agree with Mr.
Sylvester is as great as can be ventured on with safety."
At length the survey was completed, the plans were deposited, the
requisite preliminary arrangements were made, and the promoters of the
scheme applied to Parliament for the necessary powers to construct the
railway. The Bill went into Committee of the Commons on the 21st of
March, 1825. There was an extraordinary array of legal talent on the
occasion, but especially on the side of the opponents to the measure;
their counsel including Mr. (afterwards Baron) Alderson, Mr. (afterwards
Baron) Parke, Mr. Harrison, and Mr. Erle. The counsel for the bill were
Mr. Adam, Mr. Serjeant Spankie, Mr. William Brougham, and Mr. Joy.
Evidence was taken at great length as to the difficulties and delays in
forwarding raw material of all kinds from Liverpool to Manchester, as
also in the conveyance of manufactured goods from Manchester to
Liverpool. The evidence adduced in support of the bill on these grounds
was overwhelming. The utter inadequacy of the existing modes of
conveyance to carry on satisfactorily the large and rapidly-growing trade
between the two towns was fully proved. But then came the gist of the
promoter's case--the evidence to prove the practicability of a railroad
to be worked by locomotive power. Mr. Adam, in his opening speech,
referred to the cases of the Hetton and the Killingworth railroads, where
heavy goods were safely and economically transported by means of
locomotive engines. "None of the tremendous consequences," he observed,
"have ensued from the use of steam in land carriage that have been
stated. The horses have not started, nor the cows ceased to give their
milk, nor have ladies miscarried at the sight of these things going
forward at the rate of four miles and a half an hour." Notwithstanding
the petition of two ladies alleging the great danger to be apprehended
from the bursting of the locomotive boilers, he urged the safety of the
high-pressure engine when the boilers were constructed of wrought-iron;
and as to the rate at which they could travel, he expressed his full
conviction that such engines "could supply force to drive a carriage at
the rate of five or six miles an hour."
The taking of the evidence as to the impediments thrown in the way of
trade and commerce by the existing system extended over a month, and it
was the 21st of April before the Committee went into the engineering
evidence, which was the vital part of the question.
On the 25th George Stephenson was called into the witness-box. It was
his first appearance before a Committee of the House of Commons, and he
well knew what he had to expect. He was aware that the whole force of
the opposition was to be directed against him; and if they could break
down his evidence, the canal monopoly might yet be upheld for a time.
Many years afterwards, when looking back at his position on this trying
occasion, he said:--"When I went to Liverpool to plan a line from thence
to Manchester, I pledged myself to the directors to attain a speed of 10
miles an hour. I said I had no doubt the locomotive might be made to go
much faster, but that we had better be moderate at the beginning. The
directors said I was quite right; for that if, when they went to
Parliament, I talked of going at a greater rate than 10 miles an hour, I
should put a cross upon the concern. It was not an easy task for me to
keep the engine down to 10 miles an hour, but it must be done, and I did
my best. I had to place myself in that most unpleasant of all
positions--the witness-box of a Parliamentary Committee. I was not long
in it, before I began to wish for a hole to creep out at! I could not
find words to satisfy either the Committee or myself. I was subjected to
the cross-examination of eight or ten barristers, purposely, as far as
possible, to bewilder me. Some member of the Committee asked if I was a
foreigner, and another hinted that I was mad. But I put up with every
rebuff, and went on with my plans, determined not to be put down."
Mr. Stephenson stood before the Committee to prove what the public
opinion of that day held to be impossible. The self-taught mechanic had
to demonstrate the practicability of accomplishing that which the most
distinguished engineers of the time regarded as impracticable. Clear
though the subject was to himself, and familiar as he was with the powers
of the locomotive, it was no easy task for him to bring home his
convictions, or even to convey his meaning, to the less informed minds of
his hearers. In his strong Northumbrian dialect, he struggled for
utterance, in the face of the sneers, interruptions, and ridicule of the
opponents of the measure, and even of the Committee, some of whom shook
their heads and whispered doubts as to his sanity, when he energetically
avowed that he could make the locomotive go at the rate of 12 miles an
hour! It was so grossly in the teeth of all the experience of honourable
members, that the man "must certainly be labouring under a delusion!"
And yet his large experience of railways and locomotives, as described by
himself to the Committee, entitled this "untaught, inarticulate genius,"
as he has so well been styled, to speak with confidence on such a
subject. Beginning with his experience as a brakesman at Killingworth in
1803, he went on to state that he was appointed to take the entire charge
of the steam-engines in 1813, and had superintended the railroads
connected with the numerous collieries of the Grand Allies from that time
downwards. He had laid down or superintended the railways at Burradon,
Mount Moor, Springwell, Bedlington, Hetton, and Darlington, besides
improving those at Killingworth, South Moor, and Derwent Crook. He had
constructed fifty-five steam-engines, of which sixteen were locomotives.
Some of these had been sent to France. The engines constructed by him
for the working of the Killingworth Railroad, eleven years before, had
continued steadily at work ever since, and fulfilled his most sanguine
expectations. He was prepared to prove the safety of working
high-pressure locomotives on a railroad, and the superiority of this mode
of transporting goods over all others. As to speed, he said he had
recommended 8 miles an hour with 20 tons, and 4 miles an hour with 40
tons; but he was quite confident that much more might be done. Indeed,
he had no doubt they might go at the rate of 12 miles. As to the charge
that locomotives on a railroad would so terrify the horses in the
neighbourhood, that to travel on horseback or to plough the adjoining
fields would be rendered highly dangerous, the witness said that horses
learnt to take no notice of them, though there _were_ horses that would
shy at a wheelbarrow. A mail-coach was likely to be more shied at by
horses than a locomotive. In the neighbourhood of Killingworth, the
cattle in the fields went on grazing while the engines passed them, and
the farmers made no complaints.
Mr. Alderson, who had carefully studied the subject, and was well skilled
in practical science, subjected the witness to a protracted and severe
cross-examination as to the speed and power of the locomotive, the stroke
of the piston, the slipping of the wheels upon the rails, and various
other points of detail. Mr. Stephenson insisted that no slipping took
place, as attempted to be extorted from him by the counsel. He said, "It
is impossible for slipping to take place so long as the adhesive weight
of the wheel upon the rail is greater than the weight to be dragged after
it." As to accidents, Stephenson said he knew of none that had occurred
with his engines. There had been one, he was told, at the Middleton
Colliery, near Leeds, with a Blenkinsop engine. The driver had been in
liquor, and put a considerable load on the safety-valve, so that upon
going forward the engine blew up and the man was killed. But he added,
if proper precautions had been used with that boiler, the accident could
not have happened. The following cross-examination occurred in reference
to the question of speed:--
"Of course," he was asked, "when a body is moving upon a road, the
greater the velocity the greater the momentum that is generated?"
"Certainly."--"What would be the momentum of 40 tons moving at the rate
of 12 miles an hour?" "It would be very great."--"Have you seen a
railroad that would stand that?" "Yes."--"Where?" "Any railroad that
would bear going 4 miles an hour: I mean to say, that if it would bear
the weight at 4 miles an hour, it would bear it at 12."--"Taking it at 4
miles an hour, do you mean to say that it would not require a stronger
railway to carry the same weight 12 miles an hour?" "I will give an
answer to that. I dare say every person has been over ice when skating,
or seen persons go over, and they know that it would bear them better at
a greater velocity than it would if they went slower; when they go quick,
the weight in a measure ceases."--"Is not that upon the hypothesis that
the railroad is perfect?" "It is; and I mean to make it perfect."
It is not necessary to state that to have passed the ordeal of so severe
a cross-examination scatheless, needed no small amount of courage,
intelligence, and ready shrewdness on the part of the witness. Nicholas
Wood, who was present on the occasion, has since stated that the point on
which Stephenson was hardest pressed was that of speed. "I believe," he
says, "that it would have lost the Company their bill if he had gone
beyond 8 or 9 miles an hour. If he had stated his intention of going 12
or 15 miles an hour, not a single person would have believed it to be
practicable."
The Committee also seem to have entertained considerable alarm as to the
high rate of speed which had been spoken of, and proceeded to examine the
witness further on the subject. They supposed the case of the engine
being upset when going at 9 miles an hour, and asked what, in such a
case, would become of the cargo astern. To which the witness replied
that it would not be upset. One of the members of the Committee pressed
the witness a little further. He put the following case:--"Suppose, now,
one of these engines to be going along a railroad at the rate of 9 or 10
miles an hour, and that a cow were to stray upon the line and get in the
way of the engine; would not that, think you, be a very awkward
circumstance?" "Yes," replied the witness, with a twinkle in his eye,
"very awkward--_for the coo_!" The honourable member did not proceed
further with his cross-examination; to use a railway phrase, he was
"shunted." Another asked if animals would not be very much frightened by
the engine passing them, especially by the glare of the red-hot chimney?
"But how would they know that it wasn't painted?" said the witness.
On the following day, the engineer was subjected to a very severe
examination. On that part of the scheme with which he was most
practically conversant, his evidence was clear and conclusive. Now, he
had to give evidence on the plans made by his surveyors, and the
estimates which had been founded on such plans. So long as he was
confined to locomotive engines and iron railroads, with the minutest
details of which he was more familiar than any man living, he felt at
home, and in his element. But when the designs of bridges and the cost
of constructing them had to be gone into, the subject being in a great
measure new to him, his evidence was much less satisfactory.
Mr. Alderson cross-examined him at great length on the plans of the
bridges, the tunnels, the crossings of the roads and streets, and the
details of the survey, which, it soon clearly appeared, were in some
respects seriously at fault. It seems that, after the plans had been
deposited, Stephenson found that a much more favourable line might be
made; and he made his estimates accordingly, supposing that Parliament
would not confine the Company to the precise plan which had been
deposited. This was felt to be a serious blot in the parliamentary case,
and one very difficult to be got over.
For three entire days was our engineer subjected to this
cross-examination. He held his ground bravely, and defended the plans
and estimates with remarkable ability and skill; but it was clear they
were imperfect, and the result was on the whole damaging to the measure.
The case of the opponents was next gone into, in the course of which the
counsel indulged in strong vituperation against the witnesses for the
bill. One of them spoke of the utter impossiblity of making a railway
upon so treacherous a material as Chat Moss, which was declared to be an
immense mass of pulp, and nothing else. "It actually," said Mr.
Harrison, "rises in height, from the rain swelling it like a sponge, and
sinks again in dry weather; and if a boring instrument is put into it, it
sinks immediately by its own weight. The making of an embankment out of
this pulpy, wet moss, is no very easy task. Who but Mr. Stephenson would
have thought of entering into Chat Moss, carrying it out almost like wet
dung? It is ignorance almost inconceivable. It is perfect madness, in a
person called upon to speak on a scientific subject, to propose such a
plan. Every part of this scheme shows that this man has applied himself
to a subject of which he has no knowledge, and to which he has no science
to apply." Then adverting to the proposal to work the intended line by
means of locomotives, the learned gentleman proceeded: "When we set out
with the original prospectus, we were to gallop, I know not at what rate;
I believe it was at the rate of 12 miles an hour. My learned friend, Mr.
Adam, contemplated--possibly alluding to Ireland--that some of the Irish
members would arrive in the waggons to a division. My learned friend
says that they would go at the rate of 12 miles an hour with the aid of
the devil in the form of a locomotive, sitting as postilion on the fore
horse, and an honourable member sitting behind him to stir up the fire,
and keep it at full speed. But the speed at which these locomotive
engines are to go has slackened: Mr. Adam does not go faster now than 5
miles an hour. The learned serjeant (Spankie) says he should like to
have 7, but he would be content to go 6. I will show he cannot go 6; and
probably, for any practical purposes, I may be able to show that I can
keep up with him _by the canal_. . . . Locomotive engines are liable to
be operated upon by the weather. You are told they are affected by rain,
and an attempt has been made to cover them; but the wind will affect
them; and any gale of wind which would affect the traffic on the Mersey
would render it _impossible_ to set off a locomotive engine, either by
poking of the fire, or keeping up the pressure of the steam till the
boiler was ready to burst." How amusing it now is to read these
extraordinary views as to the formation of a railway over Chat Moss, and
the impossibility of starting a locomotive engine in the face of a gale
of wind!
Evidence was called to show that the house property passed by the
proposed railway would be greatly deteriorated--in some places almost
destroyed; that the locomotive engines would be terrible nuisances, in
consequence of the fire and smoke vomited forth by them; and that the
value of land in the neighbourhood of Manchester alone would be
deteriorated by no less than 20,000 pounds! Evidence was also given at
great length showing the utter impossibility of forming a road of any
kind upon Chat Moss. A Manchester builder, who was examined, could not
imagine the feat possible, unless by arching it across in the manner of a
viaduct from one side to the other. It was the old story of "nothing
like leather." But the opposition mainly relied upon the evidence of the
leading engineers--not like Stephenson, self-taught men, but regular
professionals. One of these, Mr. Francis Giles, C.E., had been
twenty-two years an engineer, and could speak with some authority. His
testimony was mainly directed to the utter impossibility of forming a
railway over Chat Moss. "_No engineer in his senses_," said he, "would
go through Chat Moss if he wanted to make a railroad from Liverpool to
Manchester. . . . In my judgment _a railroad certainly cannot be safely
made over Chat Moss without going to the bottom __of the Moss_. The soil
ought all to be taken out, undoubtedly; in doing which, it will not be
practicable to approach each end of the cutting, as you make it, with the
carriages. No carriages would stand upon the Moss short of the bottom.
My estimate for the whole cutting and embankment over Chat Moss is
270,000 pounds nearly, at those quantities and those prices which are
decidedly correct . . . It will be necessary to take this Moss completely
out at the bottom, in order to make a solid road."
When the engineers had given their evidence, Mr. Alderson summed up in a
speech which extended over two days. He declared Mr. Stephenson's plan
to be "the most absurd scheme that ever entered into the head of man to
conceive. My learned friends," said he, "almost endeavoured to stop my
examination; they wished me to put in the plan, but I had rather have the
exhibition of Mr. Stephenson in that box. I say he never had a plan--I
believe he never had one--I do not believe he is capable of making one.
His is a mind perpetually fluctuating between opposite difficulties: he
neither knows whether he is to make bridges over roads or rivers, of one
size or of another; or to make embankments, or cuttings, or inclined
planes, or in what way the thing is to be carried into effect. Whenever
a difficulty is pressed, as in the case of a tunnel, he gets out of it at
one end, and when you try to catch him at that, he gets out at the
other." Mr. Alderson proceeded to declaim against the gross ignorance of
this so-called engineer, who proposed to make "impossible ditches by the
side of an impossible railway" upon Chat Moss; "I care not," he said,
"whether Mr. Giles is right or wrong in his estimate, for whether it be
effected by means of piers raised up all the way for four miles through
Chat Moss, whether they are to support it on beams of wood or by erecting
masonry, or whether Mr. Giles shall put a solid bank of earth through
it,--in all these schemes there is not one found like that of Mr.
Stephenson's, namely, to cut impossible drains on the side of this road;
and it is sufficient for me to suggest and to show, that this scheme of
Mr. Stephenson's is impossible or impracticable, and that no other
scheme, if they proceed upon this line, can be suggested which will not
produce enormous expense. I think that has been irrefragably made out.
Every one knows Chat Moss--every one knows that the iron sinks
immediately on its being put upon the surface. I have heard of culverts,
which have been put upon the Moss, which, after having been surveyed the
day before, have the next morning disappeared; and that a house (a poet's
house, who may be supposed in the habit of building castles even in the
air), story after story, as fast as one is added, the lower one sinks!
There is nothing, it appears, except long sedgy grass, and a little soil
to prevent its sinking into the shades of eternal night. I have now
done, sir, with Chat Moss, and there I leave this railroad."
The case of the principal petitioners against the bill occupied many more
days, and on its conclusion the committee proceeded to divide on the
preamble, which was carried by a majority of only _one_--37 voting for
it, and 36 against it. The clauses were next considered, and on a
division the first clause, empowering the Company to make the railway,
was lost by a majority of 19 to 13. In like manner, the next clause,
empowering the Company to take land, was lost; on which the bill was
withdrawn.
Thus ended this memorable contest, which had extended over two
months--carried on throughout with great pertinacity and skill,
especially on the part of the opposition, who left no stone unturned to
defeat the measure. The want of a third line of communication between
Liverpool and Manchester had been clearly proved; but the engineering
evidence in support of the proposed railway having been thrown almost
entirely upon Stephenson, who fought this, the most important part of the
battle, single-handed, was not brought out so clearly as it would have
been, had he secured more efficient engineering assistance--which he was
not able to do, as the principal engineers of that day were against the
locomotive railway. The obstacles thrown in the way of the survey by the
landowners and canal companies, by which the plans were rendered
exceedingly imperfect, also tended in a great measure to defeat the bill.
The rejection of the bill was probably the most severe trial George
Stephenson underwent in the whole course of his life. The circumstances
connected with the defeat of the measure, the errors in the levels, his
rigid cross-examination, followed by the fact of his being superseded by
another engineer, all told fearfully upon him, and for some time he was
as much weighed down as if a personal calamity of the most serious kind
had befallen him.
Stephenson had been so terribly abused by the leading counsel for the
opposition in the course of the proceedings before the
Committee--stigmatised by them as an ignoramus, a fool, and a
maniac--that even his friends seem for a time to have lost faith in him
and in the locomotive system, whose efficiency he nevertheless continued
to uphold. Things never looked blacker for the success of the railway
system than at the close of this great parliamentary struggle. And yet
it was on the very eve of its triumph.
The Committee of Directors appointed to watch the measure in Parliament
were so determined to press on the project of a railway, even though it
should have to be worked merely by horse-power, that the bill had
scarcely been thrown out ere they met in London to consider their next
step. They called their parliamentary friends together to consult as to
future proceedings; and the result was that they went back to Liverpool
determined to renew their application to Parliament in the ensuing
session.
It was not considered desirable to employ Mr. Stephenson in making the
new survey. He had not as yet established his reputation as an engineer
beyond the boundaries of his own district; and the promoters of the bill
had doubtless felt the disadvantages of this in the course of their
parliamentary struggle. They therefore resolved now to employ engineers
of the highest established reputation, as well as the best surveyors that
could be obtained. In accordance with these views they engaged Messrs.
George and John Rennie to be the engineers of the railway; and Mr.
Charles Vignolles was appointed to prepare the plans and sections. The
line which was eventually adopted differed somewhat from that surveyed by
Mr. Stephenson. The principal parks and game-preserves of the district
were carefully avoided. The promoters thus hoped to get rid of the
opposition of the most influential of the resident landowners. The
crossing of certain of the streets of Liverpool was also avoided, and the
entrance contrived by means of a tunnel and an inclined plane. The new
line stopped short of the river Irwell at the Manchester end, by which
the objections grounded on an illegal interruption to the canal or river
traffic were in some measure removed. The opposition of the Duke of
Bridgewater's trustees was also got rid of, and the Marquis of Stafford
became a subscriber for a thousand shares. With reference to the use of
the locomotive engine, the promoters, remembering with what effect the
objections to it had been urged by the opponents of the bill, intimated,
in their second prospectus, that "as a guarantee of their good faith
towards the public they will not require any clause empowering them to
use it; or they will submit to such restrictions in the employment of it
as Parliament may impose."
The survey of the new line having been completed, the plans were
deposited, the standing orders duly complied with, and the bill went
before Parliament. The same counsel appeared for the promoters, but the
examination of witnesses was not nearly so protracted as on the previous
occasion. The preamble was declared proved by a majority of 43 to 18.
On the third reading in the House of Commons, an animated, and what now
appears a very amusing discussion took place. The Hon. Edward Stanley
moved that the bill be read that day six months; and in his speech he
undertook to prove that the railway trains would take _ten hours_ on the
journey, and that they could only be worked by horses. Sir Isaac Coffin
seconded the motion, and in doing so denounced the project as a most
flagrant imposition. He would not consent to see widows' premises
invaded; and "What, he would like to know, was to be done with all those
who had advanced money in making and repairing turnpike-roads? What was
to become of coach-makers and harness-makers, coach-masters and coachmen,
inn-keepers, horse-breeders, and horse-dealers? Was the house aware of
the smoke and the noise, the hiss and the whirl, which locomotive
engines, passing at the rate of 10 or 12 miles an hour, would occasion?
Neither the cattle ploughing in the fields or grazing in the meadows
could behold them without dismay. Iron would be raised in price 100 per
cent., or more probably exhausted altogether! It would be the greatest
nuisance, the most complete disturbance of quiet and comfort in all parts
of the kingdom, that the ingenuity of man could invent!"
Mr. Huskisson and other speakers, though unable to reply to such
arguments as these, strongly supported the bill; and it was carried on
the third reading by a majority of 88 to 41. The bill passed the House
of Lords almost unanimously, its only opponents being the Earl of Derby
and his relative the Earl of Wilton.
[Picture: Surveying on Chat Moss]