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they said, was got up merely to frighten them; but they were not so to be intimidated. The old system must therefore continue; and there was no alternative for the merchants. of Liverpool and the manufacturers of Manchester but to submit with the best grace possible to the obstructions and extortions of the canal companies.

In order to form an opinion of the practicability of a railroad, a deputation, consisting of Mr. Sandars, Mr. Lister Ellis, Mr. Henry Booth of Liverpool, and Mr. Kennedy of Manchester, 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 full 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 beween Liverpool and Manchester.

The first prospectus of the scheme was dated the 29th of October, 1824, and had attached to it the names of the leading merchants of Liverpool,―amongst them those of Gladstone, Lawrence, Ewart, Ellis, Moss, Cropper, and other well-known men, representatives of the wealth, the enterprise, and the energy of that great seaport. Nor were the manufacturers of Manchester behind the merchants and bankers of Liverpool in signifying their adhesion to the measure; for amongst the first subscribers we find the influential names of Birley, Potter, Sharpe, and Garnett, of that town. Mr. Charles Lawrence, mayor of Liverpool, was appointed chairman of the provisional committee.

The prospectus was a carefully prepared 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 four or five hours (instead of thirty-six hours, as 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 400,0007.,—a sum which was eventually found to be quite inadequate. A subscription list was opened, and speedily filled up. Four thousand shares of 1007. each were created; and it was a condition of the subscription that no one person was to hold more than ten shares. This secured a large and influential proprietary; and such was the interest felt in the measure at Liverpool and Manchester, so strongly convinced were the merchants, manufacturers, and tradesmen of the necessity of the undertaking, and so determined that it should now be carried out,-that if the amount of capital had been ten times as great, it would immediately have been subscribed for.

While the project was still under discussion in its earlier stages, its promoters, desirous of removing the doubts which existed as to the employment of steam-carriages on the proposed railway, sent a second deputation to Killingworth for the purpose of again observing the action of Mr. Stephenson's

engines. The deputation was on this occasion accompanied by Mr. Sylvester, an ingenious mechanic and engineer, who afterwards presented an able report on the subject to the committee. Mr. Sylvester showed that the high-pressure engines employed by Mr. Stephenson were both safe and - economical in their working. With respect to the speed of the engines, he says:-"Although it would be practicable to go at any speed, limited by the means of creating steam, the size of the wheels, and the number of strokes in the engine, it would not be safe to go at a greater rate than nine or ten miles an hour." This was considered a very high rate of speed in those days; and speculators were considered reckless who ventured to express themselves in favour of any more accelerated pace.

Satisfactory though the calculations and statements of Mr. Sylvester were, 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 fifty-four tons, travelling at the average rate of about seven miles an hour, the greatest speed being about nine and a half miles an hour. But when the engine was run by itself, with only one waggon attached, containing twenty gentlemen, five of whom were engineers, the speed attained was from ten to twelve miles an hour. In the following month, Mr. (afterwards Sir Wm.) Cubitt, then an ingenious millwright at Ipswich, made a separate

* Report of Railroads and Locomotive Engines, addressed to the Chairman and Committee of the Liverpool and Manchester projected Railroad. By Charles Sylvester, Civil Engineer. Liverpool: 1825.

inspection of the Killingworth engines, and arrived at similarly favourable conclusions. In the report which he afterwards forwarded to the Railway Committee as to the powers of the locomotive, he stated that, in his opinion, "ten miles an hour is far short of what might be obtained with an engine constructed for the purpose on a well laid level tram railway;" and he further expressed the opinion, which he offered to support by evidence, as to the greater ease, safety, speed, convenience, and economy, of conveying passengers by means of such an engine on the proposed railroad between Liverpool and Manchester, than by any other means of land conveyance. Strangely enough, this report was afterwards completely lost sight of; and Mr. Cubitt's evidence was never asked on the subject, probably because it was felt at the time, that his experience had not then been such as to give weight to any opinion he might entertain about the powers of locomotive engines, or the capabilities of railways.

When the promoters of the measure had finally determined to proceed to Parliament for the requisite powers to form the railway, they invited Mr. Stephenson to undertake the survey. Mr. James's dilatoriness in providing the plans and sections had by this time thoroughly provoked the promoters of the undertaking. Besides, he was now involved in pecuniary difficulties, in consequence of the failure of several of his extensive speculations; and he was under the necessity of removing to France, where he resided for some years. Before leaving England, however, he placed the imperfect plans of his first survey in the hands of the promoters, and he also sold to them his surveying apparatus; at the same time pointing to George Stephenson as the only man in England fitted by his practical knowledge and experience of railways to carry out the undertaking to a successful issue. The frequent interviews which the deputations from Liverpool had held with him on the subject, as

well as on the best mode of working the line when made, had already convinced them that he was, of all others, the man best calculated to help them at this juncture. The successful working of his Killingworth locomotives; 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, -had indeed directed their attention to him from the first as the most fitting man for the office of engineer of their great undertaking; and his appointment was unanimously confirmed.

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 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. This opposition was especially manifested when the attempt was made to survey the line through the property of Lord Derby and that of Lord Sefton, and also where it crossed the Duke of Bridgewater's canal. At Knowsley, Mr. Stephenson was 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 upon any lands where they had the power of driving them off. Afterwards, Mr. 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 engineer's excuse for taking so many people with him was, that he

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