The Rocket: The Story of the Stephensons, Father and Son

by Helen C. Knight

  CHAPTER VI.

  THE TWO CITIES TRYING AGAIN—BUGBEARS.

  One, two, three years passed by, and the Liverpool and Manchesterproject started up again. It was not dead, it had only slept; and thethree years had almost worn out the patience of both merchants andmanufacturers. Trade between the two cities must have speedier andeasier transit. Trade is one of the great progressive elements in theworld. It goes ahead; it will have the right of way; it will have theright way—the best, safest, cheapest way of doing its business. Yet itis not selfish; its object is the comfort and well-being of men. To dothis, it breaks down many a wall which selfishness has built up, it cutsthrough prejudices, it rides over a thousand "can't be's" of timid andlearned men; for learned men are not always practical. They sometimessay things cannot be done, when it only needs a little stout trying toovercome difficulties and do them.

  A learned man once said that crossing the Atlantic by steam wasimpossible.

  "For the good of the race, we must have something truer than wind andtougher than sails," said Trade. And it was not many years before shipssteamed into every port.

  "Carriages travelling at twelve, sixteen, eighteen, twenty miles anhour! Such gross exaggerations of the power of a locomotive we scout. Itcan never be!" cries a sober Quarterly.

  "You may scout it as much as you please," rejoins Trade; "but just assoon as people need a cheaper, pleasanter, swifter mode of travel, itwill be _done_." And now the railway carriages thread the land in theirarrowy flight.

  "The magnetic telegraph! a miserable chimera," cries a knowingstatesman. "Nobody who does not read outlandish jargon can understandwhat a telegraph means."

  "You will soon find out," answers Trade. And now it buys pork by thehundred barrels, and sells grain by the thousand bushels; while armiesmarch and fleets sail at its bidding. Treaties are signed at its word;and the telegraph girdles the world.

  You see Trade is a civilizer; and Christian civilization makes all thedifference in the world between Arabs and Englishmen.

  Liverpool merchants were now fairly awake. "What is to be done?" was thequestion. Something. Could there be a _third_ water-line between the twocities? No; there was not water enough for that.

  Would the Bridgewater Canal increase its power and reduce its charges?No.

  A tram-road or a rail-road, then. There was no other alternative.

  Mr. James, who was so much interested before, had failed and left thecountry. When he left, he said to his friends, "When you build a road,build a railroad, and get George Stephenson to do it."

  The Darlington and Stockton enterprise could not fail to be known atLiverpool; and a drift of opinion gradually began to set in strongly infavour of the railway. People talked about it in good earnest.

  "A railway!" cried the canal owners. "It is absurd; it is only got up tofrighten us; it will slump through, as it did before." They were easy.

  "Let us go to Darlington and Killingworth and see for ourselves," saidthe merchants; and four gentlemen were sent on a visit of inquiry. Theywent first to Darlington, where the works were in vigorous progress,though not done. It was in 1824, the year before they were finished.Here they met Stephenson. He took them to Killingworth to see "PuffingBilly."

  Seeing was believing. "Billy's" astonishing feats won them completelyover; and they went back to Liverpool warm for a railroad. Their clearand candid report convinced merchants, bankers, and manufacturers, whogave a verdict in its favour. Public opinion was now coming over.

  Books were opened for funds. There was no lack of subscribers. Money wasready. To be sure of the _safety_ of locomotive power, a seconddeputation was sent to Killingworth, taking with them a practicalmechanic, better able to judge about it than themselves. The man hadsense enough to see and to own that while he could not insure safetyover nine or ten miles an hour, there was nothing to be afraid of slowerthan that. Then a third body went. The enterprise required caution, theythought.

  Yes, it did.

  Having decided upon steam-power, the next thing was to secure the rightsort of man to carry on the work. Stephenson was that man. His energyand ability were indispensable. Before trying to get a charter fromParliament, the route needed to be surveyed again, and a carefulestimate of expenses made.

  The Stockton road done, Stephenson was free to engage in this newenterprise; his success in that proving his principles true on a largerscale.

  The canal owners now took alarm. They saw there was a dangerous rival,and they came forward in the most civil and conciliatory manner,professing a wish to oblige, and offering to put steam-power on theircanals. It was too late. Their day had gone by.

  You know the violent opposition made to a former survey. How would it beagain? Did three years scatter the ignorance out of which it grew? Ah,no. There was little if any improvement. The surveyors were watched anddogged by night and by day. Boys hooted at them, and gangs of turbulentmen threatened them with violence. Mr. Stephenson barely escapedduckings, and his unfortunate instruments capture and destruction.Indeed, he had to take with him a body-guard to defend them. Much of thesurveying had to be done by stealth, when people were at dinner, or witha dark lantern at night.

  When dukes and lords headed the hostility, you cannot wonder that theirdependants carried it on. One gentleman declared that he would rathermeet a highwayman or see a burglar on his premises than an engineer; andof the two he thought the former the more respectable! Widows complainedof damaged corn-fields, and gardeners of their violated strawberry-beds;and though Stephenson well knew that in many cases not a whit of damagehad been done, he paid them for fancied injuries in the hope of stoppingtheir tongues.

  SURVEYING AT NIGHT.]

  A survey made under such circumstances must needs have been imperfect;but it was as good as could be made. And no time was lost in takingmeasures to get a Bill before Parliament.

  A storm of opposition against railways suddenly arose, and spread overevery corner of the kingdom. Newspapers and pamphlets swarmed witharticles crying them down. Canal and turnpike owners spared no pains tocrush them. The most extraordinary stories were set afloat concerningtheir dangers. Boilers would burst, and passengers be blown to atoms;houses along the way would be burned; the air would become black withsmoke and poisoned by cinders; and property on the road would bestripped of its value.

  The Liverpool and Manchester Bill, however, got into Parliament, andwent before a Committee of the House of Commons to decide upon it, inMarch 1825.

  First, its friends had to show the _necessity_ of some new mode oftravel between the two cities; and that it was not difficult to do.

  But when it came to asking for liberty to build a railway and run alocomotive, the matter was more difficult to manage. And to face thetremendous opposition rallied against it, the pluck of its friends wasseverely tried.

  The battle had to be fought inch by inch.

  Stephenson, of course, was the chief witness for locomotives. But whatheadway could he, an uneducated Northumbrian mechanic, make againstmembers of Parliament, backed by all the chief engineers of the kingdom?For very few had faith in him; but those few had strong faith. He wasexamined and cross-examined. They tried to bully him, to puzzle him, tofrighten him. On the subject of locomotives his answers were clear. Hedeclared he could drive an engine, and drive it safely, at the rate oftwelve miles an hour!

  "Who can believe what is so notoriously in the teeth of all experience?"cried the opposition; "the witness is a madman!"

  Famous engineers were called on the stand. What had _they_ to say? Onedeclared the scheme a most wild one. He had no confidence inlocomotives. They were affected by wind and weather; with difficultywere kept on the track, and were liable to constant accidents; indeed, agale of wind would render it impossible to start a locomotive, either bypoking the fire or keeping up the steam till the boiler should burst:they could never be relied on.

  The proposed route had to cross an ugly quagmire, several miles inexten
t, called Chat Moss, a very shaky piece of land, no doubt; and herethe opposition took a strong stand. "No engineer in his senses," criedone, "would think of going through Chat Moss. No carriage could stand onthe Moss short of the bottom."

  "It is absurd to hold out the notion that locomotives can travel twiceas fast as stage-coaches," said another; "one might as soon trusthimself to a rocket as to the mercy of a machine going at that rate."

  "Carriages cannot go at anything like that speed," added another; "ifdriven to it, the wheels would only spin on their axles like a top, andthe carriages would stand stock-still!"

  So much for learned arguments against it.

  Then came the dangers of it. "The dumb animals would never recover fromthe sight of a locomotive; cows would not give their milk; cattle couldnot graze, nor horses be driven along the track," cried the opposition.

  "As to that," said Stephenson, "come to Killingworth and see. More quietand sensible beasts cannot be found in the kingdom. The farmers _there_never complain."

  "Well," asked one, "suppose, now, one of those engines to be going alonga railroad at the rate of nine or ten miles an hour, and that a cow wereto stray upon the line and get in the way of the engine; would not_that_, think you, be a very awkward circumstance?"

  "Yes," answered Stephenson, with a droll twinkle in his eye; "veryawkward indeed—_for the coo_!"

  The fellow, as you may suppose, backed off.

  The danger in other respects was thus dwelt on: "In addition to thesmoke and the noise, the hiss and the whirl which locomotive enginesmake, going at the rate of ten or twelve miles an hour, and filling thecattle with dismay, what," asked an honourable member, "is to be donewith all those who have advanced money in making and mending turnpikes?What with those who may still wish to travel in their own or hiredcarriages, after the fashion of their forefathers? What is to become ofcoach-makers and harness-makers, coach-masters and workmen, inn-keepers,horse-breeders, and horse-dealers? Iron would be raised one hundred percent., or more probably exhausted altogether! The price of coal would beruinous. Why, a railroad would be the greatest nuisance, the biggestdisturbance of quiet and comfort, in all parts of the kingdom, that theingenuity of man could invent."

  Not content with belittling his engine, they could not stop short ofabusing Stephenson himself. "He is more fit for Bedlam than anywhereelse," they cried; "he never had a plan—he is not capable of making one.Whenever a difficulty is pressed, as in the case of a tunnel, he getsout of it at one end; and when you try to catch him at that, he gets outat the other."

  "We protest," they said, "against a measure supported by such evidenceand founded upon such calculations. We protest against the Exchange ofLiverpool striding across the land of this country. It is despotismitself."

  What had the friends of locomotive power to say?

  "We beseech you," they pleaded to the Committee, "not to crush it in itsinfancy. Let not this country have the disgrace of putting a stop tothat which, if cherished, may in the end prove of the greatest advantageto our trade and commerce. We appeal to you in the name of the twolargest towns in England; we appeal to you in the name of the country atlarge; and we implore you not to blast the hopes that this powerfulagent, Steam, may be called in for the purpose of aiding landcommunication: only let it have a fair trial, and these littleobjections and private prejudices will be done away."

  Flaws were picked in the surveys, and the estimate of costs based onthem. The surveys, quite likely, were imperfect; indeed, how could theybe otherwise, when every mile of the line had to be done at the risk oflife?

  The battle lasted two months, and a very exciting one it was. It wasskilfully and powerfully carried on. Who beat?

  _The opposition._ The Bill was lost.

  Matters looked dark enough. Judging from appearances, the enterprise waslaid on the shelf, and the day of railways long put off. As for poorStephenson, his short day of favour seemed about gone. His being calleda madman, and regarded as a fool, as he had been by the opposition, wasnot without its effect upon his newly-made friends. Their faith in himsensibly cooled. But he did not lose faith in himself, not he. He hadwaited long for the triumph of his engine, and he could wait longer. Agreat blessing to the nation was locked up in it he well knew; and thenation would have it some time, in spite of everything.

  Was the enterprise a second time to be abandoned?

  No, no. Taking breath, its friends again started to their feet. "Nevergive up," was their motto, for they were in earnest. They rallied, andmet in London to consult what to do next.

  Mr. Huskisson, a member of Parliament for Liverpool, came into themeeting and urged them to try again—to try at the next session ofParliament.

  "Parliament must, in the end, grant you an Act," he said, "if you aredetermined to have it." And try they determined to, for a horse railroadat least.

  For this purpose another and more careful survey had to be made.

  Stephenson was left out. A _known_ man must be had. They meant to getsurveyors and engineers with well-established reputation to back themup. Stephenson was too little known. He had no fame beyond a littlecircle in one corner of the kingdom. How did he feel to be thus thrownin the back-ground? George was not a man to grumble; he was too noble tocomplain. In fact, you see, he was ahead of the times; too far ahead tobe understood and appreciated. He could afford to wait.

  Two brothers of the name of Rennie were appointed in his stead. In timethe new survey was finished; the plans drawn, and the expenses reckonedup. Changes were made in the route. Ill-tempered landowners were left onone side, and every ground of complaint avoided that could be.

  The new Bill was then carried to Parliament, and went before theCommittee in March the next year. The opposition was strong, indeed, butless furious. Much of its bitterness was gone. It made a great show offears, which the advocates of the Bill felt it was not worth while towaste words in answering. They left it to the road to answer them. Buildit, and see.

  Mr. Huskisson and others supported it in a strong and manly tone; andafter a third reading, the Bill passed in the House of Commons. So far,so good. It then had to go to the House of Lords. What would befall itthere? The same array of evidence on both sides was put forward. Thepoor locomotive engine, which had proved such a bugbear in the House ofCommons, was regarded as quite a harmless affair by most of the lords;and the opposition made such poor work in showing off its dangers, thatno plea in its behalf was called for. They were satisfied, they said;and the Bill passed almost unanimously. Victory! victory!

  The victory cost more than twenty thousand pounds! For a first cost itlooked large. But nothing worth doing can be done without effort, andeffort made _in faith_. Nothing done, nothing have.