cation, and was ready to give due consideration to any plan presenting elements of practical efficiency, which proposed a remedy for the generally admitted grievance. The first idea was a tramroad, to be worked by horses, though this gradually gave way to a larger and more efficient plan. Mr. James met Mr. Sandars frequently to discuss the subject; and about the month of June, 1821, a party, consisting of Mr. Sandars, Mr. James, Mr. Francis Giles, and Mr. Padley (Mr. James's brother-in-law, a surveyor), went out and inspected the ground in the neighbourhood of Liverpool, in order to ascertain at what point a tramroad could be best brought into the town. They first examined the land about Easton Hill with this object. Mr. James then entrusted his brother-in-law (Padley) to proceed with a trial survey. Robert Stephenson came over from Newcastle to assist him, and at the same time to obtain some experience in railway levelling.

The people in the neighbourhood of Easton Hill observing the extraordinary proceedings going on with chains and theodolite, having also heard the rumour which was now abroad, and fearing that their farms and gardens would be damaged by the intended tramroad, rose against the surveyors, and compelled them to desist. Mr. Padley's assistant was apprehended, forcibly dragged off the ground, and was only liberated on giving his solemn promise never to return there on a similar business. Finding it impossible to proceed with any survey in the neighbourhood of Liverpool in consequence of this opposition on the part of the inhabitants, Mr. Sandars suggested that the party should proceed to Prescot, and make a trial survey there. He was under the impression that the Mersey might be connected by tramway with Manchester without at all touching the town of Liverpool; and the surveyors were directed to ascertain by the levels whether this could be done. In order to carry out the survey in a

proper manner, he and Mr. Moss guaranteed to pay Mr. James, who was to superintend it, at the rate of 107. a mile, or about 3007. for the entire survey between the Mersey and Manchester. They proceeded accordingly with the survey near Prescot, meeting with great opposition from the landowners and farmers along the proposed line of road, who drove them off their grounds, and subjected them to all manner of insults.

The next surveying station was at Newton-in-the-Willows, where the surveyors took a temporary office in the Horse and Jockey public-house. While they were proceeding with their survey at this place, Mr. Legh, of Legh Park, a large land-owner, made himself acquainted with their proceedings. He was the first land-owner of the neighbourhood who declared himself favourable to the promotion of a tramroad, or who gave the projectors the slightest encouragement to proceed. All the rest were indifferent or hostile. Justice Bourne ordered his men to be constantly on the watch to turn back the surveyors wherever met with in the fields. The farmers and labourers were only too ready to follow up his instructions. Men were stationed at the field gates with pitchforks, and sometimes with guns, to drive them back. At St. Helens, one of the chainmen was laid hold of by a mob of colliers, and threatened to be hurled down a coalpit. 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; otherwatchers running up, the chainman, who was more stunned than hurt, took to his heels and fled. But the theodolite most excited the fury of the natives, who concentrated on the man who carried it their fiercest execrations and most offensive nicknames.

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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, who was the cock of the walk in his neighbourhood, made up to the theodolite carrier to wrest it from him by sheer force. A battle took place, the collier was soundly pummelled, the natives poured in volleys of stones upon the surveyors and their instruments, and the theodolite was smashed to pieces.

It may readily be conceived that a survey made in the face of such opposition would necessarily be very incomplete; but the surveyors did their best, and when they found they could proceed no further at St. Helen's, they proceeded round Chat Moss to Hiliffe to try the ground there. Their proceedings at that place excited the same degree of surprise amongst the villagers, who turned out in a body to watch them, and appeared perfectly bewildered. The Moss was so soft, in consequence of the wetness of the season, that it was impossible to enter upon it; and the party very shortly retraced their steps, and stationed themselves for a short time at the Three Swans at Eardley. There they began an intermediate survey of a branch tramroad between St. Helen's and the Mersey; and after about a month's labour, when the wet weather set in, the survey was suspended until the following spring.

In the meantime public meetings had been got up by Mr. Sandars in several of the principal towns of the district, on the subject of the proposed tramway. One was held in the Exchange at Liverpool, and another in the George Hotel, Warrington, at which Mr. Sandars, Mr. Moss, and Mr. James appeared as the advocates of the measure, which, however, did not as yet meet with any degree of general support. But the subject was thus brought prominently

under notice, and only wanted time to enable it to work its way in public estimation.

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About the middle of the year 1821, Mr. James, having heard of Stephenson's engines, which were reported to him as being more efficient than any locomotives that had yet been constructed, determined to go down to Killingworth to inspect them in person. He was not so fortunate as to meet Mr. Stephenson on that occasion; but he examined his locomotive at work, and was very much struck by its power and efficiency. He saw at a glance the magnificent uses to which it 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." Mr. Losh invited him again to visit Killingworth, for the purpose of having an interview with Mr. Stephenson on the subject of the locomotive. Accordingly, in September of the same year, accompanied by his two sons, he met Mr. Losh at Newcastle; they proceeded together to Killingworth, where Mr. Stephenson met them; and taking them to where the locomotive was working, he invited them to mount. 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 locomotive 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 to that of Watt." Mr. James, who had long been an advocate of the locomotive system, was confirmed in his views by the performances of the Killingworth engine; and informing Stephenson and Losh of the survey of the proposed tramroad between Liverpool and Manchester, upon which he had been engaged, he did not hesitate to state that he would henceforward advocate the adoption of a locomotive railroad instead of the tramroad which had originally been proposed.

As Mr. James's influence amongst persons of influence was considerable, and he was particularly identified with the more important railway projects of the day, Stephenson and Losh were naturally desirous of enlisting his good services on behalf of their patent locomotive. As yet it had proved comparatively unproductive. The Hetton Railway was the only line, in addition to the Killingworth, on which they had then a prospect of getting their engines introduced. Although Stephenson had virtually solved the problem of the locomotive, and demonstrated its profitable employment as a tractive power on railroads, neither he nor Mr. Losh were able to write up and advocate the invention so as to ensure its more extensive adoption. This they believed Mr. James might be able effectually to do for them. With this object, they proposed to give him an interest in their patent, in exchange for his services in this way; and accordingly, by a deed, dated the 1st September, 1821, they assigned to Mr. James one fourth of the profits which might be derived from the use of their patent locomotive for railroads on any lines which might be constructed south of a line drawn. across England from Liverpool to Hull, the deed setting forth that this assignment of profits was made in consideration of Mr. James giving "his recommendation and best