England. And therefore the Government propositions met with no opposition, and were carried into effect by the passing of two acts, one for the better copartnership of certain bankers in England, and another to limit, and, after a certain period, to prohibit, the issuing of promissory notes under a limited sum in England. The crisis of 1825-26 stands out prominently in the history of British commerce, but, like all other crises, it was momentary and transient. It was a dark day—a stormy season-but the gloom was easily dispelled, and commerce resumed its ordinary course, the merchants issuing forth out of it hearty, hopeful, and sanguine of future success. In a very short time credit revived, the circulation was enlarged, the Bank of England was again able to reduce its rate of discount, and, under the influence of a good harvest, the prices of grain declined sensibly, and the imports and exports increased.

67 Geo. IV. c. 46.

17 Geo. IV. c. 6. The issue of notes under 51. was restrained by the act 17 Geo. III. c. 30, and the restriction was afterwards made perpetual. In 1797, however, the restriction was suspended, and by the last act it was finally reimposed.

CHAPTER V.

RAILWAYS AND SHIPPING.

Introduction of Railways.-Objections to Railway Travelling.-Opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway.-Death of Huskisson.-Results of Railways.-Railway Legislation.-Introduction of Steam Navigation.Diagram of Sailing and Steam Shipping, 1840-78.

AMONGST modern inventions the railway certainly holds a high and foremost rank, and it is of so useful a character that the wealth and advancement of any state have come to be estimated by the number of miles of railways laid down in it. The origin of railway communication must be found in the tramway long used in coal and iron mines. The earliest railway or tramway act was passed in 1801, for the construction of a railway from Wandsworth to Croydon, for the advantage of conveying coals, corn, and all goods and merchandise to and from the metropolis and other places.' In 1802 Richard Trevethick first invented a self-acting steam carriage, which, being adapted for the drawing of waggons, was first introduced in 1804 on the Merthyr Tydvil Railway, and drew ten bars of iron at the rate of five miles an hour. Locomotive power was successfully applied by George Stephenson on the Killingworth Railway in 1814, and its success led to the application of the same on the Stockton and Darlington Railway in 1821. And as the machine was perfected and greater speed was attained, George Stephenson urged the application of steam power and the use of the same to the conveyance of passengers and the transport of goods throughout the country. In 1820 Thomas Gray, of Nottingham, conceived the idea of extending railways over the kingdom. Two years later William James, of London, endeavoured to establish a railway between Liverpool and Manchester; and in 1824 Joseph Sanders, of Liverpool, issued the first prospectus for such an undertaking.

But what was to be done as regards the locomotive? The company offered a premium for the best that could be constructed. Four engines competed, and Stephenson's 'Rocket' was successful one. But great opposition was offered to this mode of conveyance. The Government itself, perplexed and not knowing what to do, granted 130,000l. for putting the high road from London to Birmingham in a condition so perfect as to compete

with any railway! All kinds of misconceptions and fears were suggested against the practicability, utility, or safety of such a mode of travelling. The formation of railways, it was said, would prevent cows grazing and hens laying; the poisoned air from the locomotives would kill birds as they flew over them; the preservation of pheasants and foxes would no longer be possible; householders adjoining the projected line would have their houses burnt up by the fire thrown from the engine chimneys, while the air around would be polluted by clouds of smoke; horses would no longer be of any use; oats and hay would prove unsaleable commodities; travelling by road would be rendered highly dangerous; country inns would be ruined; the boilers would burst: and passengers would be blown to atoms. An influential periodical laughed at the absurdity of the idea. As to those persons who speculate on making railways generally throughout the kingdom, and superseding all the canals, all the waggons, mails, and stage-coaches, postchaises, and, in short, every other mode of conveyance by land and by water, we deem them and their visionary schemes unworthy of notice. What, for instance, can be more palpably absurd and ridiculous than the following paragraph, on which a prospect is held out of locomotive travelling twice as fast as stage-coaches? We should as soon expect the people of Woolwich to suffer themselves to be fired off from one of Congreve's ricochet rockets, as trust themselves to the mercy of such a machine going at such a rate.'

Yet, notwithstanding all these forebodings of evil, the Liverpool and Manchester line approached completion, and the time came for trying the great experiment. It was indeed to be a great era in the history of commerce, and a festival day for mechanical industry. For the day appointed, September 15, 1830, great preparations were made. The Duke of Wellington, Sir Robert Peel, Mr. Huskisson, and many other distinguished persons were invited to the ceremony. And at the appointed time eight locomotives, all built by Robert Stephenson, on the model of the Rocket,' took part in the procession. The train consisted of twenty-nine carriages; the number of passengers was about 600. At eleven o'clock the procession started from Liverpool accompanied by flags, music, and enthusiastic cheers of numberless spectators. The train passed safely Wavetry station, Olive Mount cutting, Rainhill Bridge, the Sutton incline, and the Sankey viaduct to Parkhurst. There, however, the train stopped to enable the locomotive to take in water, and there the sad accident arose which turned the great festival party into a mourning procession. To afford an opportunity to the Duke of Wellington to see the entire procession, it was arranged that all the trains should pass before him whilst his carriage was stationary. Mr. Huskisson and other gentlemen alighted from their carriage,

and as he was going to shake hands with the Duke, the Rocket' passed rapidly and knocked him down, its wheels passing over his leg and thigh. Thus in a moment, what was the occasion of unlimited congratulation became the source of universal consternation. The journey was indeed completed, but Mr. Huskisson was conveyed to a place close by where he expired that same evening.

Yes! the same Huskisson who first inaugurated freedom of trade and navigation, inaugurated also by his own death one of the greatest of modern discoveries, one of the most valuable agents in modern commerce and intercourse. Honour to his memory! That we have emerged from a state of inactivity and entered on a career of boundless prosperity, we owe certainly to the initiatory measures of Huskisson. In his long and honoured career he did much to enlarge the field of British commerce, to improve our commercial code, and to promote the well-being of every class of society. By his able advocacy our colonies obtained that freedom of intercourse, without which they could never have attained their present importance. It was Mr. Huskisson who swept away some of the most injurious restrictions on our shipping. His speeches on the currency, on the combination laws, and on apprenticeship may be read with instruction and pleasure. Freedom was his motto, and in all the legislative acts which bear his impress freedom is the foremost and prominent principle. Well read in the school of the economists, he was the first to bring their teaching to the test of actual practice. He was the first British minister whose whole system of commercial policy was founded on sound, liberal, and enlarged principles, and who laboured earnestly and successfully to promote the power, happiness, and glory of his own country, not by seeking to exalt her at the expense of others, but by opening her ports to the ships and goods of all countries, and making her the centre and animating principle of a vast commerce founded on the satisfaction of the reciprocal wants and desires that subsist among nations.

And what has been the result of the marvellous invention of conveying passengers and goods by railway? First of all, an immense saving of time and money. Before the railway was established between Liverpool and Manchester there were twentytwo regular and seven occasional extra coaches which, if full, would carry 688 persons. The railway carried, in eighteen months, 700,000 persons, or on an average 1,070 per day. The fare per coach was 108. inside, 58. outside; by railway, 58. inside, 38. 6d. outside. By coach it took four hours to go from Liverpool to Manchester or vice versa, by railway 13 hour. The rate of goods by canal was 158. per ton, by railway 10s. 8d. By canal goods took 20 hours, by railway 2 hours. But these rates of saving and travelling have all been immensely extended of late years, and we

should have some stupendous figures were we to calculate the total amount saved by the millions of passengers now yearly travelling by rail all over the world, and by the immense tonnage of goods so conveyed.

Much might be said on railway legislation. The genius of British enterprise certainly consists in its freedom and daring. When railway travelling was first projected the proposal seemed all but chimerical, and it was most hazardous for capitalists to venture investing their capital in such works. To have fettered, therefore, the companies with any restrictions or conditions would have been most injudicious.' Even after the success of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, the consequences to society which would result from the adoption of this new means of communication were seldom correctly appreciated by men of the best understanding, and under such circumstances it is less to be wondered at, that extensive powers should have been given to railway companies, without the accompaniment of such safeguards as subsequent experience proved to be necessary for the protection of the public. At the first, railway companies were not intended to have a monopoly of their lines. On the contrary, provision was made, in all or most of the acts of incorporation, to enable all persons to use the road on payment of certain tolls to the company, under such regulations as the company might make to secure the proper and convenient use of the railway. But no sooner were railways worked on a large scale with locomotive power, than it was found impracticable for the public in general to use the lines either with carriages or locomotive engines; and the railway companies, in order to make their undertakings remunerative, were compelled, with the assistance of the persons who had been previously engaged in the carrying trade of the country, to embark in the business of common carriers on their lines of railway, and conduct the whole operations themselves. When, in 1840, a committee of the House of Commons was appointed upon the railway system, they came to the conclusion that the right secured to the public by the railway acts of running their engines and carriages on the railways, was practically a dead letter, because no provision had been made for ensuring to independent trains and engines access to stations and watering-places along the lines; because the rates for toll limited by the act were almost always so high as to make it difficult for independent persons to work at a profit, and because the necessity of placing the running of all trains under the complete control of one head, interposed numerous difficulties in the way of independent traders. In 1844 Parliament again directed its attention to the increasing importance of railway commu

See the 7 Geo. IV. c. 49. An act for making and maintaining a railway from Liverpool to Manchester, with certain branches therefrom; capital, 510,0007. in 1007. shares.