THE LIVERPOOL AND MANCHESTER RAILWAY PROJECTED.
While the coal proprietors of the Bishop Auckland district were taking
steps to connect their collieries with the sea by means of an iron
railroad, the merchants of Liverpool and Manchester were considering
whether some better means could not be devised for bringing these
important centres of commerce and manufacture into more direct
connection.
There were canals as well as roads between the two places, but all
routes were alike tedious and costly, especially as regarded the
transit of heavy goods. The route by turnpike road was thirty-six
miles, by the Duke of Bridgewater's Canal fifty miles, by the Mersey
and Irwell navigation the same, and by the Leeds and Liverpool Canal
fifty-six miles.
These were all overburdened with traffic. The roads were bad, the
tolls heavy, and the haulage expensive. The journey by coach occupied
from five to six hours, and by wagon nearly a day. But very few heavy
goods went by road. The canals nearly monopolized this traffic, and,
having contrived to keep up the rates, the canal companies charged what
they liked. They conducted their business in a drowsy, sleepy, stupid
manner. If the merchant complained of delay, he was told to do better
if he could. If he objected to the rates, he was warned that if he did
not pay them promptly his goods might not be carried at all.
The canal companies were in a position to dictate their own terms, and
they did this in such a way as to disgust alike the senders and the
receivers of goods, so that both Liverpool and Manchester were up in
arms against them. Worse even than the heavy charges for goods was the
occasional entire stoppage of the canals. Sometimes they were frozen
up; sometimes they were blocked by the press of traffic, so that goods
lay on the wharves unmoved for weeks together; and at some seasons it
occupied a longer time to bring cotton from Liverpool to Manchester by
canal-boat than it had done to bring it from New York to Liverpool by
sailing ship.
Was there no way of remedying these great and admitted evils? Were the
commercial public to continue to be bound hand and foot, and left at
the mercy of the canal proprietors? Immense interests at Liverpool and
Manchester were at stake. The Liverpool merchants wanted new facilities
for sending raw material inland, and the Manchester manufacturers for
sending the manufactured products back to Liverpool for shipment. Vast
populations had become settled in the towns of South Lancashire, to
whom it was of vital importance that the communication with the sea
should be regular, constant, and economical.
These considerations early led to the discussion of some improved
mode of transit from Liverpool into the interior for heavy goods, and
one of the most favored plans was that of a tram-road. It was first
suggested by the corn-merchants of Liverpool, who had experienced the
great inconveniences resulting from the canal monopoly. One of the most
zealous advocates of the tram-road was Mr. Joseph Sandars, who took
considerable pains to ascertain the results of the working of the coal
lines in the North, both by horse and engine power, and he satisfied
himself that either method would, if adopted between Liverpool
and Manchester, afford the desired relief to the commercial and
manufacturing interests. The subject was ventilated by him in the local
papers, and in the course of the year 1821 Mr. Sandars succeeded in
getting together a committee of Liverpool gentlemen for the purpose of
farther considering the subject, and, if found practicable, of starting
a company with the object of forming a tram-road between the two towns.
While the project was still in embryo, the rumor of it reached the ears
of Mr. William James, then of West Bromwich, an enthusiastic advocate
of tram-roads and railways. As a land-surveyor and land-agent, as well
as coal-owner, he had already laid down many private railroads. He
had also laid out and superintended the execution and the working of
canals, projected extensive schemes of drainage and inclosure, and,
on the whole, was one of the most useful and active men of his time.
But a series of unfortunate speculations in mines having seriously
impaired his fortunes, he again reverted to his original profession of
land-surveyor, and was so occupied in the neighborhood of Liverpool
when he heard of the scheme set on foot for the construction of the
proposed tram-road to Manchester.
He at once called upon Mr. Sandars and offered his services as its
surveyor. We believe he at first offered to survey the line at his own
expense, to which Mr. Sandars could not object; but his means were too
limited to enable him to do this successfully, and Mr. Sandars and
several of his friends agreed to pay him £300 for the survey, or at the
rate of about £10 a mile. Mr. James's first interview with Mr. Sandars
was in the beginning of July, 1821, when it was arranged that he should
go over the ground and form a general opinion as to the practicability
of a tram-way.
A trial survey was then begun, but it was conducted with great
difficulty, the inhabitants of the district entertaining much prejudice
against the scheme. In some places Mr. James and his surveying party
had even to encounter personal violence. At St. Helen's one of the
chain-men 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
assembled, and ran after the surveyors wherever they made their
appearance, bawling nicknames and throwing stones at them. As one of
the chain-men was climbing over a gate one day, a laborer made at him
with a pitchfork, and ran it through his clothes into his back; other
watchers running up, the chain-man, 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 neighborhood, made up to the theodolite bearer to
wrest it from him by sheer force. A battle took place, the collier was
soundly pommeled, but the natives poured in volleys of stones upon the
surveyors and their instruments, and the theodolite was smashed in
pieces.
Met by these and other obstructions, it turned out that the survey
could not be completed in time for depositing the proper plans, and
the intended application to Parliament in the next session could not
be made. 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 one
of the locomotives was working, and invited to "jump up." 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.
[Illustration: MAP OF LIVERPOOL AND MANCHESTER RAILWAY. [Western Part.]]
The engine went through its usual performances, dragging a heavy load
of coal-wagons 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
tram-road between Liverpool and Manchester, and did not hesitate to
state that he would thenceforward advocate the construction of a
locomotive railroad instead of the tram-road which had originally been
proposed.
[Illustration: MAP OF LIVERPOOL AND MANCHESTER RAILWAY. [Eastern Part.]]
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 insure its more extensive
adoption, and with that object they proposed to give him an interest in
the patent. Accordingly, they entered into an agreement by which they
assigned to 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 endeavored 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
tram-road; but, anxious though Stephenson was as to its extended
employment, he was too cautious to risk an experiment which might 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.
The first survey made of the Liverpool and Manchester line having been
found very imperfect, it was determined to have a second and more
complete one made in the following year. Robert Stephenson, though then
a lad of only nineteen, had already obtained some practical knowledge
of surveying, having been engaged on the preliminary survey of the
Stockton and Darlington Railway in the previous year, and he was sent
over to Liverpool by his father to give Mr. James such assistance as he
could. Robert Stephenson 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 endeavoring 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
advance into the Moss for the same purpose were abandoned for the same
reason--the want of a solid stand for the theodolite.
As Mr. James proceeded with his survey, he found a host of opponents
springing up in all directions, some of whom he conciliated by
deviations, but others refused to be conciliated on any terms. Among
these last were Lords Derby and Wilton, Mr. Bradshaw, and the Strafford
family. The proposed line passed through their lands, and, regarding it
as a nuisance, without the slightest compensating advantage to them,
they determined to oppose it at every stage. Their agents drove the
surveyors off their land; the farmers set men at the gates armed with
pitchforks to resist their progress; and the survey proceeded with
great difficulty. Mr. James endeavored to avoid Lord Derby's Knowsley
estate, but as he had received instructions from Messrs. Ewart and
Gladstone to lay out the line so as to enable it to be extended to the
docks, he found it difficult to accomplish this object and at the same
time avert the hostility of the noble lord. The only large land-owners
who gave the scheme their support were Mr. Legh and Mr. Wyrley Birch,
who not only subscribed for shares, but attended several public
meetings, and spoke in favor of the proposed railroad. Public opinion
was, however, beginning to be roused, and the canal companies began at
length to feel alarmed.
"At Manchester," Mr. James wrote to Mr. Sandars, "the subject
engages all men's thoughts, and it is curious as well as amusing to
hear their conjectures. The canal companies (southward) are alive
to their danger. I have been the object of their persecution and
hate; they would immolate me if they could; but if I can die the
death of Samson, by pulling away the pillars, I am content to die
with these Philistines. Be assured, my dear sir, that not a moment
shall be lost, nor shall my attention for a day be diverted from
this concern, which increases in importance every hour, as well as
in the certainty of ultimate success."
Mr. James was one of the most enthusiastic of men, especially about
railways and locomotives. He believed, with Thomas Gray, who brought
out his book about this time, that railways were yet to become the
great high roads of civilization. The speculative character of the man
may be inferred from the following passage in one of his letters to Mr.
Sandars, written from London:
"Every Parliamentary friend I have seen--and I have many of both
houses--eulogizes our plan, and they are particularly anxious that
engines should be introduced in the south. I am now negotiating
about the Wandsworth Railroad. A fortune is to be made by buying
the shares, and introducing the engine system upon it. I am
confident capital will treble itself in two years. I do not choose
to publish my views _here_, and I wish to God some of our Liverpool
friends would take this advantage. I have bought some shares, but
my capital is locked up in unproductive lands and mines."
As the survey of the Liverpool and Manchester line proceeded, Mr.
James's funds fell short, and he was under the necessity of applying
to Mr. Sandars and his friends from time to time for farther
contributions. It was also necessary for him to attend to his business
as a surveyor in other parts of the country, and he was at such times
under the necessity of leaving the work to be done by his assistants.
Thus the survey was necessarily imperfect, and when the time arrived
for lodging the plans, it was found that they were practically
worthless. Mr. James's pecuniary difficulties had also reached their
climax. "The surveys and plans," he wrote to Mr. Sandars, "can't be
completed, I see, till the end of the week. With illness, anguish of
mind, and inexpressible distress, I perceive I must sink if I wait any
longer; and, in short, I have so neglected the suit in Chancery I named
to you, that if I do not put in an answer I shall be outlawed."
Mr. James's embarrassments increased, and he was unable to shake
himself free from them. He was confined for many months in the Queen's
Bench Prison, during which time this indefatigable railway propagandist
wrote an essay illustrative of the advantages of direct inland
communication by a line of engine railroad between London, Brighton,
and Portsmouth. Meanwhile the Liverpool and Manchester scheme seemed to
have fallen to the ground. But it only slept. When its promoters found
that they could no longer rely on Mr. James's services, they determined
to employ another 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 undertaking at this juncture; and having, on his
return to Liverpool, reported this opinion to the committee, they
approved his recommendation, and George Stephenson was unanimously
appointed engineer of the projected railway. On the 25th of May, 1824,
Mr. Sandars wrote to Mr. James as follows:
"I think it right to inform you that the committee have engaged
your friend George Stephenson. We expect him here in a few days.
The subscription-list for £300,000 is filled, and the Manchester
gentlemen have conceded to us the entire management. I very much
regret that, by delays and promises, you have forfeited the
confidence of the subscribers. I can not help it. I fear now
that you will only have the fame of being connected with the
commencement of this undertaking."
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 upward 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 favor 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.
He would not improve the existing means of conveyance; he would have
nothing to do with the proposed railway; and, if persevered in, he
would oppose it with all his power. 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 George Stephenson, they there witnessed the
performances of his locomotive engines. The result of their visit was,
on the whole, so satisfactory, that on their return to Liverpool it was
determined to form a company of the proprietors for the construction of
a double line of railway between Liverpool and Manchester.
The original promoters of the undertaking included men of the highest
standing and local influence in Liverpool and Manchester, with Charles
Lawrence as chairman, Lister Ellis, Robert Gladstone, John Moss, and
Joseph Sandars as deputy chairmen; while among the ordinary members of
the committee were Robert Benson, James Cropper, John Ewart, Wellwood
Maxwell, and William Rathbone, of Liverpool, and the brothers Birley,
Peter Ewart, William Garnett, John Kennedy, and William Potter, of
Manchester.
The committee also included another important name--that of Henry
Booth, then a corn-merchant of Liverpool, and afterward the secretary
and manager of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. Mr. Booth was a
man of admirable business qualities, sagacious and far-seeing, shrewd
and practical, of considerable literary ability, and he also possessed
a knowledge of mechanics, which afterward proved of the greatest value
to the railway interest; for to him we owe the suggestion of the
multitubular boiler in the form in which it has since been employed
upon all railways, and the coupling-screw, as well as other important
mechanical appliances which have come into general use.
The first prospectus, issued in October, 1824, set forth in clear
and vigorous language the objects of the company, the urgent need of
additional means of communication between Liverpool and Manchester,
and the advantages offered by the railway over all other proposed
expedients. It was shown that the water-carriers not only exacted
the most arbitrary terms from the public, but were positively unable
to carry the traffic requiring accommodation. Against the indefinite
continuance or recurrence of those evils, said the prospectus, the
public have but one security: "It is competition that is wanted; and
the proof of this assertion may be adduced from the fact that shares in
the Old Quay Navigation, of which the original cost was £70, have been
sold as high as £1250 each!" The advantages of the railway over the
canals for the carriage of coals was also urged, and it was stated that
the charge for transit would be very materially reduced.
"In the present state of trade and of commercial enterprise (the
prospectus proceeded), dispatch is no less essential than economy.
Merchandise is frequently brought across the Atlantic from New
York to Liverpool in twenty-one days, while, owing to the various
causes of delay above enumerated, goods have in some instances
been longer on their passage from Liverpool to Manchester. But
this reproach must not be perpetual. The advancement in mechanical
science renders it unnecessary--the good sense of the community
makes it impossible. Let it not, however, be imagined that, were
England to be tardy, other countries would pause in the march
of improvement. Application has been made, on behalf of the
Emperor of Russia, for models of the locomotive engine; and other
of the Continental governments have been duly apprised of the
important schemes for the facilitating of inland traffic, now
under discussion by the British public. In the United States of
America, also, they are fully alive to the important results to be
anticipated from the introduction of railroads; a gentleman from
the United States having recently arrived in Liverpool, with whom
it is a principal object to collect the necessary information in
order to the establishment of a railway to connect the great rivers
Potomac and Ohio."
It will be observed that the principal, indeed almost the sole, object
contemplated by the projectors of the undertaking was the improved
carriage of merchandise and coal, and that the conveyance of passengers
was scarcely calculated on, the only paragraph in the prospectus
relating to the subject being the following: "Moreover, as a cheap
and expeditious means of conveyance for travelers, the railway holds
out the fair prospect of a public accommodation, the magnitude and
importance of which can not be immediately ascertained." The estimated
expense of forming the line was set down at £400,000--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 wagons, weighing in
all 54 tons, traveling at the average rate of about 7 miles an hour,
the greatest speed being about 9-1/2 miles an hour. But when the engine
was run with only one wagon 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 on the part of the proprietors of the lands through which
the railway was intended to pass. The prejudices of the farming and
laboring classes were strongly excited against the persons employed
upon the ground, and it was with the greatest difficulty that the
levels could be taken. This opposition was especially manifested when
the attempt was made to survey the line through the properties of Lords
Derby and Sefton, and also where it crossed the Duke of Bridgewater's
Canal. At Knowsley, Stephenson and his surveyors were driven off the
ground by the keepers, and threatened with rough handling if found
there again. Lord Derby's farmers also turned out their men to watch
the surveying party, and prevent them entering on any lands where they
had the power of driving them off. Afterward Stephenson suddenly and
unexpectedly went upon the ground with a body of surveyors and their
assistants who outnumbered Lord Derby's keepers and farmers, hastily
collected to resist them, and this time they were only threatened with
the legal consequences of their trespass.
The same sort of resistance was offered by Lord Sefton's keepers
and farmers, with whom the following ruse was adopted. A minute was
concocted, purporting to be a resolution of the Old Quay Canal Company
to oppose the projected railroad by every possible means, and calling
upon land-owners and others to afford every facility for making such a
survey of the intended line as should enable the opponents to detect
errors in the scheme of the promoters, and thereby insure its defeat.
A copy of this minute, without any signature, was exhibited by the
surveyors who went upon the ground, and the farmers, believing them to
have the sanction of the landlords, permitted them to proceed with the
hasty completion of their survey.
The principal opposition, however, was experienced from Mr. Bradshaw,
the manager of the Duke of Bridgewater's canal property, who offered
a vigorous and protracted resistance to the survey in all its stages.
The duke's farmers obstinately refused permission to enter upon their
fields, although Stephenson offered to pay for any damage that might
be done. Mr. Bradshaw positively refused his sanction in any case; and
being a strict preserver of game, with a large staff of keepers in his
pay, he declared that he would order them to shoot or apprehend any
persons attempting a survey over his property. But one moonlight night
a survey was effected 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 gamekeepers 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. Describing before Parliament the difficulties which he
encountered in making the survey, Stephenson said: "I was threatened to
be ducked in the pond if I proceeded, and, of course, we had a great
deal of the survey to take by stealth, at the time when the people were
at dinner. We could not get it done by night; indeed, we were watched
day and night, and guns were discharged over the grounds belonging to
Captain Bradshaw to prevent us. I can state farther that I was myself
twice turned off Mr. Bradshaw's grounds by his men, and they said if I
did not go instantly they would take me up and carry me off to Worsley."
The same kind of opposition had to be encountered all along the line
of the intended railway. Mr. Clay, one of the company's solicitors,
wrote to Mr. Sandars from the Bridgewater Arms, Prescott, on the 31st
of December, that the landlords, occupiers, trustees of turnpike
roads, proprietors of bleach-works, carriers and carters, and even the
coal-owners, were dead against the railroad. "In a word," said he, "the
country is up in arms against us." There were only three considerable
land-owners who remained doubtful; and "if these be against us," said
Mr. Clay, "then _the whole_ of the great proprietors along the whole
line are dissentient, excepting only Mr. Trafford."
The cottagers and small proprietors were equally hostile. "The trouble
we have with them," wrote Mr. Clay, "is beyond belief; and those
patches of gardens at the end of Manchester bordering on the Irwell,
and the tenants of Hulme Hall, who, though insignificant, must be
seen, give us infinite trouble, all of which, as I have reason to
believe, is by no means accidental." There was also the opposition of
the great Bradshaw, the duke's agent. "I wrote you this morning," said
Mr. Clay, in a wrathful letter of the same date, "since which we have
been into Bradshaw's warehouse, now called the Knot Mill, and, after
traversing two of the rooms, we got very _civilly_ turned out, which,
under all the circumstances, I thought very lucky, and more than we
deserved. However, we have seen more than half of his d--d cottagers."
There were also the canal companies, who made common cause, formed
a common purse, and determined to wage war to the knife against all
railways. The following circular, issued by the Liverpool Railroad
Company, with the name of Mr. Lawrence, the chairman, attached, will
serve to show the resolute spirit in which the canal proprietors were
preparing to resist the bill:
"SIR,--The Leeds and Liverpool, the Birmingham, the Grand Trunk,
and other canal companies having issued circulars, calling upon
'every canal and navigation company in the kingdom' to oppose _in
limine_ and by a united effort the establishment of railroads
wherever contemplated, I have most earnestly to solicit your active
exertions on behalf of the Liverpool and Manchester Railroad
Company, to counteract the avowed purpose of the canal proprietors,
by exposing the misrepresentations of interested parties, by
conciliating good will, and especially by making known, as far as
you have opportunity, not only the general superiority of railroads
over other modes of conveyance, but, in our peculiar case, the
absolute necessity of a new and additional line of communication,
in order to effect with economy and dispatch the transport of
merchandise between this port and Manchester.
"(Signed)
CHARLES LAWRENCE, Chairman."
Such was the state of affairs and such the threatenings of war on both
sides immediately previous to the Parliamentary session of 1825.
When it became known that the promoters of the undertaking were
determined--imperfect though the plans were believed to be, from the
obstructions thrown in the way of the surveying parties--to proceed
with the bill in the next session of Parliament, the canal companies
appealed to the public through the press. Pamphlets were published
and newspapers hired to revile the railway. It was declared that its
formation would prevent the cows grazing and hens laying, while the
horses passing along the road would be driven distracted. The poisoned
air from the locomotives would kill the birds that 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 unsalable
commodities. Traveling 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.
Although the press generally spoke of the Liverpool and Manchester
project as a mere speculation--as only one of the many bubble schemes
of the period[58]--there were other writers who entertained different
views, and boldly and ably announced them. Among the most sagacious
newspaper articles of the day, calling attention to the application
of the locomotive engine to the purposes of rapid steam-traveling,
on railroads, was a series which appeared in 1824, in the "Scotsman"
newspaper, then edited by Mr. Charles Maclaren. In those publications
the wonderful powers of the locomotive were logically demonstrated,
and the writer, arguing from the experiments on friction made more
than half a century before by Vince and Coulomb, which scientific men
seemed to have altogether lost sight of, clearly showed that, by the
use of steam-power on railroads, the cheaper as well as more rapid
transit of persons and merchandise might be confidently anticipated.
Not many years passed before the anticipations of the writer, sanguine
and speculative though they were at that time regarded, were amply
realized. Even Mr. Nicholas Wood, in 1825, speaking of the powers
of the locomotive, and referring doubtless to the speculations of
the "Scotsman" as well as of his equally sanguine friend Stephenson,
observed: "It is far from my wish to promulgate to the world that the
ridiculous expectations, or rather professions, of the enthusiastic
speculist will be realized, and that we shall see engines traveling at
the rate of twelve, sixteen, eighteen, or twenty miles an hour. Nothing
could do more harm toward their general adoption and improvement than
the promulgation of such nonsense."[59]
Among the papers left by Mr. Sandars we find a letter addressed to
him by Sir John Barrow, of the Admiralty, as to the proper method of
conducting the case in Parliament, which pretty accurately represents
the state of public opinion as to the practicability of locomotive
traveling on railroads at the time at which it was written, the 10th
of January, 1825. Sir John strongly urged Mr. Sandars to keep the
locomotive altogether in the background; to rely upon the proved
inability of the canals and common roads to accommodate the existing
traffic; and to be satisfied with proving the absolute necessity of a
new line of conveyance; above all, he recommended him not even to hint
at the intention of carrying passengers.
"You will at once," said he, "raise a host of enemies in the
proprietors of coaches, post-chaises, innkeepers, etc., whose
interests will be attacked, and who, I have no doubt, will be
strongly supported, and for what? Some thousands of passengers,
_you_ say--but a few hundreds _I_ should say--in the year."
He accordingly urged that _passengers_ as well as _speed_ should be
kept entirely out of the act; but, if the latter were insisted on, then
he recommended that it should be kept as low as possible--say at five
miles an hour!
Indeed, when George 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 run his locomotive at the rate of twenty 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 traveling 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 traveling 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 traveling
_twice as fast_ as stage-coaches! 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."
[Illustration: SURVEYING ON CHAT MOSS.]
FOOTNOTES:
[58] "Many years ago I met in a public library with a bulky volume,
consisting of the prospectuses of various projects bound up together,
and labeled, 'Some of the Bubbles of 1825.' Among the projects thus
described was one that has since been productive of the greatest and
most rapid advance in the social condition of mankind effected since
the first dawn of civilization: it was the plan of the company for
constructing a railway between Liverpool and Manchester."--W. B. Hodge,
in "Journal of the Institute of Actuaries," No. 40, July, 1860.
[59] "Wood on Railroads," ed. 1825, p. 290.