steam-engines, &c., to recommend the application of numerous engines and the most costly machinery." And he added: "Had the recent grand feat, accomplished by the two new ponderous engines, been performed by means of cog-rails, I do not hesitate to assert that the very same engines would have effected five times more; - which assertion serves further to prove, that the founding of the railway system could not have been effected by Thomas Gray.

The charge brought against Mr. Stephenson, as engineer of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, of employing men under him to carry out his instructions, whom he knew, in preference to persons belonging to the parishes through which the line passed, whom he did not know, was of a piece with many other charges gravely advanced against him at the time. Even the drivers of stage-coaches were not then selected by the proprietors because they belonged to the respective parishes through which the coaches ran, but because they knew something of stage-coach driving. But in the case of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, it was insisted that the local population had the first claim to be employed *; and the engineer was strongly censured "for introducing into the country a numerous body of workmen in various capacities, strangers to the soil and to the surrounding population, thus wresting from the hands of those to whom they had naturally belonged, all the benefits which the enterprise and capital of the district in this case conferred." But the charge was grossly exaggerated, and, for the most part, unfounded. As respected the working of the engines, it was natural and proper that Mr. Stephenson, who was responsible for their efficiency, should employ men to work them who knew something about their construction and mode of action. And as the only locomotive railways in England at that time were

* Edinburgh Review for October, 1832, p. 130.

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those at work in the neighbourhood of Newcastle, he of course sought there for engine-drivers, stokers, and other workmen of similar practical experience on railways, to work the Liverpool and Manchester line. But it was one of Mr. Stethose early days of railway

phenson's greatest difficulties, in experience, to find able workmen enough to make his engines as well as to construct his roads. It was a saying of his that "he could engineer matter very well, but his greatest difficulty was to engineer men." Of the 600 persons employed in the working of the Liverpool line, not more than sixty had been recommended by him in his capacity of engineer, and of these a considerable proportion were personally unknown to him. Some of them had been brought up under his own eye, and were men whose character and qualifications he could vouch for. But these were not enough for his purpose; and he often wished he could manufacture heads and hands on which he could rely, as easily as he could fabricate locomotives. As it was, Stephenson's engine-men were in request all over England, and they never were in want of remunerative employment. Indeed, for many years after, the Newcastle school of engineers, of which he was the head, continued to furnish the chief part of the locomotive superintendents and drivers on railways, not only in this country, but all over Europe; preference being given to them by the directors of these undertakings in consequence of their previous practical experience, as well as their generally excellent qualities as steady and industrious workmen. Mr. Stephenson had, no doubt, a warm heart for Northumberland men; and who will blame him for it? But that he ever permitted his love for canny Newcastle to bias his judgment or stand in the way of his duty to his employers in recommending the best men for appointment to the offices under him, those who knew him best most confidently deny.

211

CHAP. XIX.

MR. STEPHENSON APPOINTED TO SURVEY A RAILWAY FROM LIVERPOOL TO MANCHESTER.

THE project of a line of railway from Liverpool to Manchester was revived in the speculative year 1824. It had not, indeed, been lost sight of by its advocates, who had merely waited for a time in the hope of mitigating the opposition of the powerful canal companies and landowners. But the interruptions to the conveyance of goods between the two towns had at length become intolerable, and it was a matter of absolute necessity that some mode should be adopted for remedying the evil.

Mr. Saunders continued to hold by his project of a railway; and his first idea of a solidly constructed tramway, to be worked by horse power, gradually assumed a more comprehensive form. He continued to propagate his ideas upon 'Change, and gradually succeeded in enlisting on his side an increasing number of influential merchants and manufacturers both at Liverpool and Manchester. 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 transport of goods; and in the same year a Public Declaration was 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."

The formation of a third line of water conveyance, in addition to the Mersey and Irwell Canals, was also considered; but it was almost immediately dismissed as impracticable, as the two existing establishments had already possession of all the water. There was no choice left but a tram or railroad, and the very necessities of the case forced on the adoption of the measure. Even though worked by horses, the proposed tramroad would be a valuable auxiliary to the existing means of conveyance. A public meeting was held at Liverpool to consider the best plan to be adopted, and a railway was determined on. A committee was appointed to take the necessary measures; but, as if reluctant to enter upon their arduous struggle with "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 only met by an unqualified refusal. They suggested the expediency of a railway, and even invited Mr. Bradshaw to become a large proprietor of shares. But his reply was-"All or none!" The canal proprietors were confident in their imagined security. They revelled in the prospect of enjoying in perpetuity their enormous dividends, which were so great that one of their undertakings (the Old Quay) had paid to its thirty-nine proprietors, every other year for half a century, the total amount of their original investment; and the income derived from the Duke of Bridgewater's canal amounted to not less than 100,000l. a year. Mr. Bradshaw knew that no third canal could be made, because all the available water was already absorbed by the two existing ones. As for the proposed railway, the canal proprietors ridiculed it as a chimera. It had been spoken about years before, when Mr. James made his survey, and nothing had come of it then. It would be the same now. The thing, they said, was got up merely to frighten them;

but they were not to be so 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. Saunders, 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 then 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 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