/ X- \ \ RAILROADS: Their Origin and Problems. BY CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS, Jr. NEW YORK G. P. P U T N A M’S SONS 182 Fifth Avenue 1879- Copyright by G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1878. 3S5; 09 AcL \n r \ST7 3 'J' -Y CONTENTS. * The Genesis of the Railroad System. The Railroad Problem PAGE i 80 X '4 t- < I THE GENESIS OF THE RAILROAD SYSTEM. HERE are not many stories that are either more interesting in themselves or better worth telling for the lesson they convey, than the story of George Stephenson and his invention of the locomo- tive engine. It has been told, too, in a manner which upon the whole leaves little to be desired ; and the great and long continued popularity of Smiles’ biography is one of the most encouraging symptoms of the better and healthier education of the times. In the course of his narrative the author describes with great literary skill the genesis of the locomo- tive. In doing so he carries his readers along with him through episodes of opposition, discourage- ment, disappointment, almost defeat, — the interest in the narrative and the fortunes of its hero continu- ally growing until it exceeds that of any work of fiction of the day, even though Walter Scott himself was then a living author, — until at last the great dramatic i 2 THE GENESIS OF climax is reached in the memorable pageant of Sep- tember 15 th, 1830. That day, — the day of the formal opening of the Manchester & Liverpool railroad, — was for Stephenson more than an ovation, it was liter- ally a triumph. Guiding his locomotive, the Northum- brian. at the head of the train, not only was he, even though the Duke of Wellington himself was there, the conquering hero observed of all, but there were also many circumstances about the occasion suggest- ive of other and less attractive features of the classic triumphs. Reminders of public distress and private want, of the fickleness of popular favor and of sud- den death itself, all w r ere there. The season was favorable, the skies w r ere clear, the occasion great; but things would not move smoothly. It was a day of contre-temps ; a day to be remembered and de- scribed, but one which nevertheless must ever after have left a bitter taste in the mental mouths of those who took part in its observances. Unfortunately, when he came to giving an account of it, Smiles’ appreciation of the dramatic fitness of things proved too strong for his fidelity to facts. He thought his hero deserved a day of triumph unalloyed, and so he gave it to him — as nearly as he could. The terrible episode of Mr. Huskisson’s death it was not possible to wholly pass over; but whatever else was there to mar the pleasure of the day could be ignored, and was ignored accordingly. The liberty w T ith facts which Smiles thus allowed himself to take, was long since pointed out by Jeaffreson, in his excellent life of THE RAILROAD SYSTEM. 3 Robert Stephenson ; and in that work will be found a much more correct account than is given by Smiles of the events of the Manchester & Liverpool open- ing. Even Jeaffreson’s account is, however, not wholly satisfactory. It was written too long after the event. He sees what he undertakes to describe with eyes accustomed to railroads and locomotives and trains of cars. He has with great industry gotten all his details together and woven them into a skilful narrative, but it is, after all, not the narrative of one who himself was there. Now the great peculiarity of the locomotive engine and its sequence, the rail- road, as compared with other and far more important inventions, was that it burst rather than stole or crept upon the world. Its advent was in the highest degree dramatic. It was even more so than the dis- covery of America. Of this last we know every detail, and nothing is wanting which could lend an interest to the event. Picturesque and absorbing as the story is, however, the climax did not work itself out before the very eyes of an astonished world. Co- lumbus and his crew alone on the morning of the I2th October 1492, saw the shores of the new world. And yet, next to the locomotive engine, this was probably the most dramatic of all those discoveries which have marked epochs in human history. The mariner’s compass, far more momentous in its consequences, crept silently on a world which to this day does not know when or from whence or how it came. It was much the same with gun-powder. In the case of 4 THE GENESIS OF printing it is somewhat different, for though its in- vention has been a fruitful source of controversy, something at least is known of it. Hallam, indeed, in his Literature of Europe, indulges in a flight of rhetoric somewhat unusual with him and which reads queerly, as he speaks of Fustenburg’s Mazarin Bible, the first printed book. “ It is,” he says, “a very striking circumstance, that the high-minded inventors of this great art tried at the very out- set so bold a flight as the printing of an entire Bible, and executed it with astonishing success. It was Minerva leaping on earth in her divine strength and radiant armor, ready at the moment of her nativity to subdue and destroy her enemies. . . . We may see in imagination this venerable and splendid volume leading up the crowded myriads of its followers, and imploring, as it were, a blessing on the new art by dedicating its first fruits to the ser- vice of Heaven.” “ In imagination ” perhaps, “ we may see ” all this, but assuredly the cotemporary world neither saw nor dreamed of it ; on the contrary, imaginary processions apart, few things less inspiring can be conceived than the unnoticed homely toil of those poor German mechanics at Mentz, who four centuries ago launched upon an unconscious world the great motive power of all modern life. So with the loom, the steam engine, and electricity. Each and all, they struggled into existence slowly and painfully. The world never stopped to look, much less to wonder at them. We cannot know what people's sensations THE RAILROAD SYSTEM. 5 were when they first realized that a new power had appeared, for there was no particular moment at which they ever realized it. The locomotive engine alone as soon as it was seen was acknowledged ; for it must be remembered that its one essential feature — the multitubular boiler, — was first used in Stephen- son’s experimental locomotive, the Rocket, on the Rainhill trial course in October, 1829, and never after that time was the importance of the new dis- covery denied, while the interest felt in its further development each day widened and became more engrossing. It was this element of spontaneity, therefore, — the instantaneous and dramatic recognition of suc- cess, which gave a peculiar interest to everything con- nected with the Manchester & Liverpool railroad. The whole world was looking at it, with a full realizing sense that something great and momentous was im- pending. Every day people watched the gradual development of the thing, and actually took part in it. In doing so they had sensations and those sensations they have described. There is consequently an ele- ment of human nature surrounding it. The com- plete ignoring of this element by both Smiles and Jeaffreson is a defect in their narratives. They de- scribe the scene from a standpoint of forty years later. Others described it as they saw it at the time. To their descriptions time has only lent a new freshness. They are full of honest wonder. They are much better and more valuable and more interesting now 6 THE GENESIS OF than they were fifty years ago, and for that reason are well worth exhuming. To introduce the contemporaneous story of the day, however, it is not necessary even to briefly review the long series of events which had slowly led up to it. The world is tolerably familiar with the early life of George Stephenson, and with the vexatious obsta- cles he had to overcome before he could even secure a trial for his invention. The man himself, however, is an object of a good deal more curiosity to us, than he was to those among whom he lived and moved. A living glimpse at him now is worth dwelling upon, and is the best possible preface to any account of his great day of life triumph. Just such a glimpse of the man has been given to us at the moment when at last all difficulties' had been overcome, — when the Manchester & Liverpool railroad was completed ; and, literally, not only the eyes of Great Britain but those of all civilized countries were directed to it and to him who had originated it. At just that time it chanced that the celebrated actor, John Kemble, was ful- filling an engagement at Liverpool with his daughter, better known in this country as Mrs. Frances Kemble Butler. The extraordinary social advantages the Kemble family enjoyed gave both father and daugh- ter opportunities such as seldom came in the way of ordinary mortals. For the time being they were, in fact, the lions of the stage, just as George Stephenson was the lion of the new railroad. As was most natural the three lions were brought THE RAILROAD SYSTEM. 7 together. The young actress has since published her impressions, jotted down at the time, of the old engineer. Her account of a ride side by side with George Stephenson, on the seat of his locomotive, over the as yet unopened road, is one of the most interesting and life-like records we have of the man and the enterprise. Perhaps it is the most interesting. The introduction is Mrs. Kemble's own, and written forty-six years after the experience : “ While we were acting at Liverpool, an experimental trip was proposed upon the line of railway which was being con- structed between Liverpool and Manchester, the first mesh of that amazing iron net which now covers the whole surface of England, and all civilized portions of the earth. The Liverpool merchants, whose far-sighted self-interest prompted to wise lib- erality, had accepted the risk of George Stephenson’s magnificent experiment, which the committee of inquiry of the House of Commons had rejected for the government. These men, of less intellectual culture than the Parliament members, had the ad- venturous imagination proper to great speculators, which is the poetry of the counting house and wharf, and were better able to receive the enthusiastic infection of the great projector’s sanguine hope than the Westminster committee. They were exultant and triumphant at the near completion of the work, though, of course not without some misgivings as to the eventual success of the stupendous enterprise. My father knew several of the gen- tlemen most deeply interested in the undertaking, and Stephen- son having proposed atrial trip as far as the fifteen-mile viaduct, they, with infinite kindness, invited him and permitted me to accompany them : allowing me, moreover, the place which I felt to be one of supreme honor, by the side of Stephenson. All that wonderful history, as much more interesting than a romance 8 THE GENESIS OF as truth is stranger than fiction, which Mr. Smiles’ biography of the projector has given in so attractive a form to the world, I then heard from his own lips. He was rather a stern-featured man, with a dark and deeply marked countenance ; his speech was strongly inflected with his native Northumbrian accent, but the fascination of that story told by himself, while his tame dragon flew panting along his iron pathway with us, passed the first reading of the Arabian Nights, the incidents of which it almost seemed to recall. He was wonderfully condescending and kind, in answering all the questions of my eager ignorance, and I lis- tened to him with eyes brimful of warm tears of sympathy and enthusiasm, as he told me of all his alternations of hope and fear, of his many trials and disappointments, related with fine scorn, how the “ Parliament men ” had badgered and baffled him with their book-knowledge, and how, when at last they had smothered the irrepressible prophecy of his genius in the quak- ing depths of Chat Moss, he had exclaimed, ‘ Did ye ever see a boat float on water ? I will make my road float upon Chat Moss ! ’ The well-read Parliament men (some of whom, per- haps, wished for no railways near their parks and pleasure- grounds) could not believe the miracle, but the shrewd Liver- pool merchants, helped to their faith by a great vision of immense gain, did ; and so the railroad was made, and I took this mem- orable ride by the side of its maker, and would not have ex- changed the honor and pleasure of it for one of the shares in the speculation.” “ Liverpool, August 26th, 1830. “ My Dear'H : A common sheet of paper is enough for love, but a foolscap extra can only contain a railroad and my ecstasies. There was once a man born at Newcastle-upon* Tyne, who was a common coal-digger ; this man had an im- mense constructiveness, which displayed itself in pulling his watch to pieces and putting it together again ; in making a pair of shoes when he happened to be some days without occupation ; THE RAILROAD SYSTEM. 9 finally — here there is a great gap in my story — it brought him in the capacity of an engineer before a committee of the House of Commons, with his head full of plans for constructing a rail- road from Liverpool to Manchester. It so happened that to the quickest and most powerful perceptions and conceptions, to the most indefatigable industry and perseverance, and the most ac- curate knowledge of the phenomena of nature as they affect his peculiar labors, this man joined an utter want of the ‘ gift of gab he could no more explain to others what he meant to do and how he meant to do it, than he could fly, and therefore the members of the House of Commons, after saying, 4 There is a rock to be excavated to a depth of more than sixty feet, there are embankments to be made nearly to the same height, there, is a swamp of five miles in length to be traversed, in which if you drop an iron rod it sinks and disappears ; how will you do all this ?’ and receiving no answer but a broad Northumbrian, ‘ I can’t tell you how I’ll do it, but I can tell you I will do it,’ dismissed Stephenson as a visionary. Having prevailed upon a company of Liverpool gentlemen to be less incredulous, and having raised funds for his great undertaking, in December of 1826 the first spade was struck into the ground. And now I will give you an account of my yesterday’s excursion. A party of sixteen persons was ushered into a large court-yard, where, under cover, stood several carriages of a peculiar construction, one of which was prepared for our reception. It was a long- bodied vehicle with seats placed across it back to back ; the one we were in had six of these benches, and was a sort of uncov- ered char a banc. The wheels were placed upon two iron bands, which formed the road, and to which they are fitted, being so constructed as to slide along without any danger of hitching or becoming displaced, on the same principle as a thing sliding on a concave groove. The carriage was set in motion by a mere push, and, having received this impetus, rolled with us down an inclined plane into a tunnel, which forms the entrance to the rail- road. This tunnel is four hundred yards long (I believe), and will 1 * IO THE GENESIS OF be lighted by gas. At the end of it we emerged from darkness, and, the ground becoming level, we stopped. There is another tunnel parallel with this, only much wider and longer, for it ex- tends from the place we had now reached, and where the steam carriages start, and which is quite out of Liverpool, the whole way under the town, to the docks. This tunnel is for wagons and other heavy carriages ; and as the engines which are to draw the trains along the railroad do not enter these tunnels, there is a large building at this entrance which is to be inhabited by steam engines of a stationary turn of mind, and different con- stitution from the traveling ones, which are to propel the trains through the tunnels to the terminus in the town, without going out of their houses themselves. The length of the tunnel par- allel to the one we passed through is (I believe) two thousand two hundred yards. I wonder if you are understanding one word I am saying all this while ! We were introduced to the little engine which was to drag us along the rails. She (for they make these curious little fire horses all mares) consisted of a boiler, a stove, a platform, a bench, and behind the bench a barrel containing enough water to prevent her being thirsty for fifteen miles, — the whole machine not bigger than a common fire engine. She goes upon two wheels, which are her feet, and are moved by bright steel legs called pistons ; these are pro- pelled by steam, and in proportion as more steam is applied to the upper extremities (the hip-joints, I suppose) of these pis- tons, the faster they move the wheels ; and when it is desira- ble to diminish the speed, the steam, which unless suffered to escape would burst the boiler, evaporates through a safety valve into the air. The reins, bit, and bridle of this wonderful beast, is a small steel handle, which applies or withdraws the steam from its legs or pistons, so that a child might manage it. “ The coals, which are its oats, were under the bench, and there was a small glass tube affixed to the boiler, with water in it, which indicates by its fullness or emptiness when the creature wants water, which is immediately conveyed to it from its reser- THE RAILROAD SYSTEM. 1 1 voirs. There is a chimney to the stove, but as they burn coke there is none of the dreadful black smoke which accompanies the progress of a steam vessel. This snorting little animal, which I felt rather inclined to pat, was then harnessed to our carriage, and Mr. Stephenson having taken me on the bench of the engine with him, we started at about ten miles an hour. The steam horse being ill adapted for going up and down hill, the road was kept at a certain level, and appeared sometimes to sink below the surface of the earth and sometimes to rise above it. Almost at starting it was cut through the solid rock, which formed a wall on either side of it, about sixty feet high. You can’t imagine how strange it seemed to be journeying on thus, without any visible cause of progress other than the magical machine, with its flying white breath and rhythmical, unvarying pace, between these rocky walls, which are already clothed with moss and ferns and grasses ; and when I reflected that these great masses of stone had been cut asunder to allow our pas- sage thus far below the surface of the earth, I felt as if no fairy tale was ever half so wonderful as what I saw. Bridges were thrown from side to side across the top of these cliffs, and the people looking down upon us from them seemed like pigmies standing in the sky. I must be more concise, though, or I shall want room. We were to go only fifteen miles, that distance being sufficient to show the speed of the engine, and to take us to the most beautiful and wonderful object on the road. After proceeding through this rocky defile, we presently found our- selves raised upon embankments ten or twelve feet high ; we then came to a moss, or swamp, of considerable extent, on which no human foot could tread without sinking, and yet it bore the road which bore us. This had been the great stumbling-block in the minds of the committee of the House of Commons ; but Mr. Stephenson has succeeded in overcoming it. A foundation of hurdles, or, as he called it, basket-work, was thrown over the morass, and the interstices were filled with moss and other elas- tic matter. 12 THE GENESIS OF Upon this the clay and soil were laid down, and the road does float, for we passed over it at the rate of five and twenty miles an hour, and saw the stagnant swamp water trembling on the surface of the soil on either side of us. I hope you under- stand me. The embankment had gradually been rising higher and higher, and in one place, where the soil was not settled enough to form banks, Stephenson had constructed artificial ones of woodwork, over which the mounds of earth were heaped, for he said that though the wood-work would rot, before it did so the banks of earth which covered it would have been suffi- ciently consolidated to support the road. We had now come fifteen miles, and stopped where the road traversed a wide and deep valley. Stephenson made me alight and led me down to the bottom of this ravine, over which, in order to keep his road level, he has thrown a magnificent viaduct of nine arches, the middle one of which is seventy feet high, through which we saw the whole of this beautiful little valley. It was lovely and won- derful beyond-all words. He here told me many curious things respecting this ravine ; how he believed the Mersey had once rolled through it ; how the soil had proved so unfavorable for the foundation of his bridge that it was built upon piles, which had been driven into the earth to an enormous depth ; how while digging for a foundation he had come to a tree bedded in the earth, fourteen feet below the surface of the ground ; how tides are caused, and how another flood might be caused ; all of which I have remembered and noted down at much greater length than I can enter upon it here. He explained to me the whole construction of the steam-engine, and said he could soon make a famous engineer of me, which, considering the wonderful things he has achieved, I dare not say is impossible. His way of explaining himself is peculiar, but very striking, and I under- stood, without difficulty, all that he said to me. We then re- joined the rest of the party, and the engine having received its supply of water, the carriage was placed behind it, for it cannot turn, and was set off at its utmost speed, thirty-five miles an THE RAILROAD SYSTEM. 13 hour, swifter than a bird flies (for they tried the experiment with a snipe). You cannot conceive what that sensation of cut- ting the air was ; the motion is as smooth as possible, too. 1 could either have read or written ; and as it was, I stood up, and with my bonnet off ‘ drank the air before me.’ The wind, which was strong, or perhaps the force of our own thrusting against it, absolutely weighed my eyelids down. “ When I closed my eyes this sensation of flying was quite delightful, and strange beyond description ; yet strange as it was, I had a perfect sense of security, and not the slightest fear. At one time, to exhibit the power of the engine, having met another steam-carriage which was unsupplied with water, Mr. Stephenson caused it to be fastened in front of ours ; moreover, a wagon laden with timber was also chained to us, and thus propelling the idle steam-engine, and dragging the loaded wagon which was beside it, and our own carriage full of people behind, this brave little she-dragon of ours flew on. Farther on she met three carts, which, being fastened in front of her, she pushed on before her without the slightest delay or difficulty ; when I add that this pretty little creature can run with equal facility either backwards or forwards, I believe I have given you an account of all her capacities. Now for a word or two about the master of all these marvels, with whom I am most horribly in love. He is a man from fifty to fifty-five years of age ; his face is fine, though careworn, and bears an expression of deep thoughtfulness ; his mode of explaining his ideas is peculiar and very original, strik- ing, and forcible ; and although his accent indicates strongly his north country birth, his language has not the slightest touch of vulgarity or coarseness. He has certainly turned my head. Four years have sufficed to bring this great undertaking to an end. The railroad will be opened upon the fifteenth of next month. The Duke of Wellington is coming down to be present on the occasion, and, I suppose, what with the thousands of spectators and the novelty of the spectacle, there will never have been a scene of more striking interest. The whole cost of the work (in- THE GENESIS OF eluding the engines and carriages) will have been eight hundred and thirty thousand pounds ; and it is already worth double that sum. The directors have kindly offered us three places for the opening, which is a great favor, for people are bidding almost anything for a place, I understand.” Even while Miss Kemble was writing this letter, certainly before it had reached her correspondent, the official programme of that opening to which she was so eagerly looking forward was thus referred to in the Liverpool papers : “ The day of opening still remains fixed for Wednesday the fifteenth instant. The company by whom the ceremony is to be performed, is expected to amount to eight or nine hundred per- sons, including the Duke of Wellington and several others of the nobility. They will leave Liverpool at an early hour in the fore- noon, probably ten o’clock, in carriages drawn by eight or nine engines, including the new engine of Messrs. Braithwaite and Ericsson, if it be ready in time. The other engines will be those constructed by Mr. Stephenson, and each of them will draw about a hundred persons. On their arrival at Manchester, the com- pany will enter the upper stories of the warehouses by means of a spacious outside wooden staircase, which is in course of erec- tion for the purpose by Mr. Bellhouse. The upper story of the range of warehouses is divided into five apartments, each meas- uring sixty-six feet by fifty -six. In four of these a number of tables (which Mr. Bellhouse is also preparing) will be placed, and the company will partake of a splendid cold collation which is to be provided by Mr. Lynn, of the Waterloo Hotel, Liverpool. A large apartment at the east end of the warehouses will be re- served as a withdrawing room for the ladies, and is partitioned off for that purpose. After partaking of the hospitality of the directors, the company will return to Liverpool in the same order in which they arrive. We understand that each shareholder in THE RAILROAD SYSTEM . 15 the railway will be entitled to a seat (transferable) in one of the carriages, on this interesting and important occasion. It maybe proper to state, for the information of the public, that no one will be permitted to go upon the railway between Ordsall lane and the warehouses, and parties of the military and police will be placed to preserve order, and prevent intrusion. Beyond Ord- sall lane, however, the public will be freely admitted to view the procession as it passes : and no restriction will be laid upon them farther than may be requisite to prevent them from approaching too close to the rails, lest accidents should occur. By extending themselves along either side of the road towards Eccles any number of people, however great, may be easily accommodated/' It only remained to successfully carry out on the the 15th the programme thus carefully laid down. Of their ability so to do the directors of the company probably entertained little doubt. Yet there were circumstances connected with the then condition of public affairs which might well have occasioned them some uneasiness. Never in modern times had Eng- land passed through a sadder or more anxious period than that during which the Manchester & Liver- pool road was built. The great reaction which nat- urally followed the close of the long Napoleonic wars was coming to a close, and the patience of all, and the endurance of many, were thoroughly worn out. The suffering of the poorer classes, especially in the manu- facturing districts, was extremely severe, and the con- sequent popular discontent so great that even the semblance of order was with difficulty preserved. Half the counties in England were nightly illum- ined by incendiary fires. A fierce political agitation :6 THE GENESIS OF was also raging. The Duke of Wellington was prime minister. The cry for parliamentary reform was loud, and against any compliance with that cry the prime minister had set his face like a flint. From being the most popular man in the kingdom, he had become the most unpopular. He lived in constant danger of being hustled wherever he showed himself, even if he escaped mobbing. And now this man, hard, ungracious in manner, unyielding as iron, the object of intense popular odium, was coming down into the very hot-bed of suffering and agitation to take the prominent part,— to be the guest of honor upon an occasion which was sure to call out the entire mass of the population. Whether the directors of the company realized it or no, the experiment was a perilous one. In spite of every precaution the day might not improbably end in a riot, — possibly in a revolution. At last it came, and the contemporane- ous reporter has left of it the following account : “ The town itself [Liverpool] was never so full of strangers ; they poured in during the last and the beginning of the present week from almost all parts of the three kingdoms, and we be- lieve that through Chester alone, which is by no means a prin- cipal road to Liverpool, four hundred extra passengers were forwarded on Tuesday. All the inns in the town were crowded to overflowing, and carriages stood in the streets at night, for want of room in the stable yards. “ On the morning of Wednesday the population of the town and of the country began very early to assemble near the rail- way. The weather was favorable, and the Company’s station at the boundary of the town was the rendezvous of the nobility THE RAILROAD SYSTEM. 17 and gentry who attended, to form the procession at Manchester. Never was there such an assemblage of rank, wealth, beauty, and fashion in this neighborhood. From before nine o’clock until ten the entrance in Crown street was thronged by the splen- did equipages from which the company was alighting, and the area in which the railway carriages were placed was gradually filling with gay groups eagerly searching for their respective places, as indicated by numbers corresponding with those on their tickets. The large and elegant car constructed for the no- bility, and the accompanying cars for the Directors and the musicians were seen through the lesser tunnel, where persons moving about at the far end appeared as diminutive as if viewed through a concave glass. The effect was singular and striking. In a short time all those cars were brought along the tunnel into the yard which then contained all the carriages, which were to be attached to the eight locomotive engines which were in read- iness beyond the tunnel in the g'reat excavation at Edge-hill. By this time the area presented a beautiful spectacle, thirty- three carriages being filled by elegantly dressed persons, each train of carriages being distinguished by silk flags of different colors ; the band of the fourth King’s Own Regiment, stationed in the adjoining area, playing military airs, the Wellington Har- monic Band, in a Grecian car for the procession, performing many beautiful miscellaneous pieces ; and a third band occupy- ing a stage above Mr. Harding’s Grand Stand, at William the Fourth’s Hotel, spiritedly adding to the liveliness of the hour whenever the other bands ceased. “ A few minutes before ten, the discharge of a gun and the cheers of the assembly announced the arrival of the Duke of Wellington, who entered the area with the Marquis arid Mar- chioness of Salisbury and a number of friends, the band playing “See the conquering Hero comes.” He returned the congratu- lations of the company, and in a few moments the grand car, which he and the nobility and the principal gentry occupied, and the cars attached to it, were permitted to proceed ; we say per- i8 THE GENESIS OF mitted, because no applied power, except a slight impulse at first is requisite to propel carriages along the tunnel, the slope being just sufficient to call into effect the principle of gravitation. The tunnel was lighted with gas, and the motion in passing through it must have been as pleasing as it was novel to all the party. On arriving at the engine station, the cars were attached to the Northumbrian , locomotive engine, on the southern of the two lines of rail ; and immediately the other trains of carriages started through the tunnel and were attached to their respective engines on the northern of the lines. “ We had the good fortune to have a place in the first train after the grand cars, which train, drawn by the Phoenix, consisted of three open and two close carriages, each carrying twenty-six ladies and gentlemen. The lofty banks of the engine station were crowded with thousands of spectators, whose enthusiastic cheering seemed to rend the air. From this point to Wavertree- lane, while the procession was forming, the grand cars passed and repassed the other trains of carriages several times, running as they did in the same direction on the two parallel tracks, which gave the assembled thousands and tens of thousands the opportunity of seeing distinctly the illustrious strangers, whose presence gave extraordinary interest to the scene. Some soldiers of the 4th Regiment assisted the railway police in keeping the way clear and preserving order, and they discharged their duty in a very proper manner. A few minutes before eleven all was ready for the journey, and certainly a journey upon a railway is one of the most delightful that can be imagined. Our first thoughts it might be supposed, from the road being so level, were that it must be monotonous and uninteresting. It is precisely the contrary ; for as the road does not rise and fall like the ground over which we pass, but proceeds nearly at a level, whether the land be high or low, we are at one moment drawn through a hill, and find our- selves seventy feet below the surface, in an Alpine chasm, and at another we are as many feet above the green fields, traversing a raised path, from which we look down upon the roofs of frame THE RAILROAD SYSTEM. 19 houses, and see the distant hills and woods. These variations give an interest to such a journey which cannot be appreciated until they are witnessed. The signal gun being fired, we started in beautiful style, amidst the deafening plaudits of the well- dressed people who thronged the numerous booths, and all the walls and eminences on both sides the line. Our speed was gradually increased till, entering the Olive Mountain excavation, we rushed into the awful chasm at the rate of twenty-four miles an hour. The banks, the bridges over our heads, and the rude projecting corners along the sides, were covered with masses of human beings past whom we glided as if upon the wings of the wind. We soon came into the open country of Broad Green, having fine views of Huyton and Prescot on the left, and the hilly grounds of Cheshire on the right. Vehicles of every description stood in the fields on both sides, and thousands of spectators still lined the margin of the road ; some horses seemed alarmed, but after trotting with their carriages to the farther hedges, they stood still as if their fears had subsided. After passing Whiston, sometimes going slowly, sometimes swiftly, we observed that a vista formed by several bridges crossing the road gave a pleasing effect to the view. Under Rainhill Bridge, which, like all the others, was crowded with spectators, the Duke’s car stopped until we passed, and on this, as on similar occasions, we had excellent opportunities-of seeing the whole of the noble party, distinguish- ing the Marquis and Marchioness of Salisbury, the Earl and Countess of Wilton, Lord Stanley and others, in the fore part of the car ; along side of the latter part was Mr. Huskisson, stand- ing with his face always toward us ; and further behind was Lord Hill, and others, among whom the Mayor of Liverpool took his station. At this place Mr. Bretherton had a large party of friends in a field, overlooking the road. As we approached the Sutton in- clined plane the Duke’s car passed us again at a most rapid rate — it appeared rapid even to us who were travelling then at, prob- ably, fifteen miles an hour. We had a fine view of Billings hill from this neighborhood, and of a thousand various colored fields, 20 THE GENESIS OF A grand stand was here erected, beautifully decorated, and crowded with ladies and gentlemen from St. Helen’s and the neighborhood. Entering upon Parr Moss we had a good view of Newton Race Course and the stands, and at this time the Duke was far ahead of us ; the grand cars appeared actually of diminutive dimensions, and in a short time we saw them gliding beautifully over the Sankey Viaduct, from which a scene truly magnificent lay before us. “ The fields below us were occupied by thousands who cheer- ed us as we passed over the stupendous edifice ; carriages filled the narrow lanes, and vessels in the water had been detained in order that their crews might gaze up at the gorgeous pageant passing far above their mast heads. Here again was a grand stand, and here again enthusiastic plaudits almost deafened us. Shortly, we passed the borough of Newton, crossing a fine bridge over the Warrington road, and reached Parkside, seventeen miles from Liverpool, in about four minutes under the hour. At this place the engines were ranged under different watering stations to receive fresh water, the whole extending along nearly a half a mile of road. Our train and two others passed the Duke’s car, and we in the first train had had our engine supplied with water, and were ready to start, some time before we were aware of the melancholy cause of our apparently great delay. We had, most of us, alighted, and were walking about, congratulating each other generally, and the ladies particularly, on the truly delight- ful treat we were enjoying, all hearts bounding with joyous ex- citement, and every tongue eloquent in the praise of the gigan- tic work now completed, and the advantages and pleasures it. af- forded. A murmur and an agitation at a little distance beto- kened something alarming and we too soon learned the nature of that lamentable event, which we cannot record without the most agonized feelings. On inquiring, we learnt the dreadful par- ticulars. After three of the engines with their trains had passed the Duke’s carriage, although the others had to follow, the com- pany began to alight from all the carriages which had arrived. THE RAILROAD SYSTEM. 21 The Duke of Wellington and Mr. Huskisson had just shaken hands, and Mr. Huskisson, Prince Esterhazy, Mr. Birch, Mr. H. Earle, Mr. William Holmes, M. P. and others were standing in the road, when the other carriages were approaching. An alarm being given, most of the gentlemen sprang into the carriage, but Mr. Huskisson seemed flurried, and from some cause, not clearly ascertained, he fell under the engine of the approaching carriages, the wheel of which shattered his leg in the most dreadful man- ner. On being raised from the ground by the Earl of Wilton, Mr. Holmes, and other gentlemen, his only exclamations were ; — “ Where is Mrs. Huskisson ? I have met my death. God forgive me.” Immediately after he swooned. Dr. Brandreth, and Dr. Southey, of London, immediately applied bandages to the limb. In a short time the engine was detached from the Duke’s carriage, and the musician’s car being prepared for the purpose, the Right Honorable gentleman was placed in it, ac- companied by his afflicted lady, with Doctor Brandreth, Dr. Southey, Earl of Wilton, and Mr. Stephenson, who set off in the direction of Manchester. “ The whole of the procession remained at least another hour uncertain what course to adopt. A consultation was held on the open part of the road, and the Duke of Wellington was soon surrounded by the Directors, and a mournful group of gentle- men. At first it was thought advisable to return to Liverpool, merely dispatching one engine and a set of carriages, to convey home Lady Wilton, and others who did not wish to return to Liverpool. The Duke of Wellington and Sir Robert Peel seemed to favor this course ; others thought it best to proceed as origi- nally intended : but no decision was made till the Boroughreeve of Manchester stated, that if the procession did not reach Man- chester, where an unprecedented concourse of people would be assembled, and would wait for it, he should be fearful of the consequences to the peace of the town. This turned the scale and his Grace then proposed that the whole party should pro- ceed, and return as soon as possible, all festivity at Manchester 22 THE GENESIS OF being avoided. The PhoeniXy with its train, was then attached to the North Star and its train, and from the two united a long chain was affixed to his Grace’s car, and although it was on the other line of rail, it was found to draw the whole along exceed- ingly well. About half-past one, we resumed our journey ; and we should here mention that the Wigan Branch Railway Com- pany had erected near Parkside bridge, a grand stand, which they and their friends occupied, and from which they enthusi- astically cheered the procession. On reaching the twentieth mile post we had a beautiful view of Rivington Pike, and Black- stone Edge, and at the twenty-first the smoke of Manchester appeared to be directly at the termination of our view. Groups of people continued to cheer us, but we could not reply ; our enjoyment was over. Tyldesley Church, and a vast region of smiling fields here met the eye, as we traversed the flat surface of Chat Moss, in the midst of which a vast crowd was assembled to greet us with their plaudits ; and from the twenty-fourth mile post we began to find ourselves flanked on both sides by spec- tators extending in a continuous and thickening body all the way to Manchester. At the twenty-fifth mile post we met Mr. Ste- phenson returning with the Northumbrian engine. In answer to innumerable and eager inquiries, Mr. Stephenson said he had left Mr. Huskisson at the house of the Rev. Mr. Blackburn, Vicar of Eccles, and had then proceeded to Manchester, whence he brought back medical assistance, and that the surgeons, after seeing Mr. Huskisson, had expressed a hope that there was no danger. Mr. Stephenson’s speed had been at the rate of thirty- four miles an hour during this painful errand. The engine being then again attached to the Duke’s car, the procession dashed forward, passing countless thousands of people upon house tops, booths, high ground, bridges, etc., and our readers must im- agine, for we cannot describe, such a movement through an avenue of living beings, and extending six miles in length. Upon one bridge a tri-colored flag was displayed ; near another the motto of “ Vote by ballot ” was seen ; in a field near Eccles, a THE RAILROAD SYSTEM. 23 poor and wretchedly-dressed man had his loom close to the roadside, and was weaving with all his might ; cries of “ No Corn Laws,” were occasionally heard, and for about two miles the cheerings of the crowd were interspersed with a continual hissing and hooting from the minority. On approaching the bridge which crosses the Irwell, the 59th regiment was drawn up, flanking the road on each side, and presenting arms as his Grace passed along. We reached the warehouses at a quarter before three, and those who alighted were shown into the large upper rooms where a most elegant, cold collation had been pre- pared by Mr. Lynn, for more than one thousand persons. The greater portion of the company, as the carriages continued to arrive, visited the rooms and partook in silence of some refresh- ment. They then returned to their carriages which had been properly placed for returning. His Grace and the principal party did not alight ; but he went through a most fatiguing office for more than an hour and a half, in shaking hands with thousands of people, to whom he stooped over the hand rail of the carriage, and who seemed insatiable in their desire to join hands with him. Many women brought their children to him, lifting them up that he might bless them, which he did, and during the whole time he had scarcely a minute’s respite. At half past four the Duke’s car began to move away for Liverpool. “ They would have been detained a little longer, in order that three of the engines, which had been to Eccles for water, might have dropped into the rear to take their places ; but Mr. Lavender represented that the crowd was so thickening in upon all sides, and becoming so clamorous for admission into the area, that he would not answer for the peace of the town, if further delay took place. The three engines were on the same line of rail as the Duke, and they could not cross to the other line with- out getting to a turning place, and as the Duke could not be de- layed on account of his keeping the crowd together, there was no alternative but to send the engines forward. One of the other engines was then attached to our train, and we followed 24 THE GENESIS OF the Duke rapidly, while the six trains behind had only three en- gines left to bring them back. Of course, we kept pace with the Duke, who stopped at Eccles to inquire after Mr. Huskis- son. The answer received was that there was now no hope of his life being saved ; and this intelligence plunged the whole party into still deeper distress. We proceeded without meeting any fresh incident, until we passed Prescot, where we found two of the three engines at the 6| mile post, where a turning had been effected, but the third had gone on to Liverpool ; we then detached the one we had borrowed, and the three set out to meet the six remaining trains of carriages. Our carriages were then connected with the grand cars, the engine of which now drew the whole number of nine carriages, containing nearly three hundred persons, at a very smart rate. We were now get- ting into vast crowds of people, most of them ignorant of the dreadful event which had taken place, and all of them giving us enthusiastic cheers which we could not return. “ At Roby, his Grace and the Childwalls alighted and pro- ceeded home ; our carriages then moved forward to Liverpool, where we arrived about seven o’clock, and went down the great tunnel, under the town, a part of the work which, more than any other, astonished the numerous strangers present. It is, indeed, a wonderful work, and makes an impression never to be effaced from the memory. The Company’s yard, from Saint James’s street to Wapping, was filled with carriages waiting for the re- turning parties, who separated with feelings of mingled grati- fication and distress, to which we shall not attempt to give ut- terance. We afterwards learnt that the parties we left at Man- chester placed the three remaining engines together, and all the carriages together, so as to form one grand procession, includ- ing twenty-four carriages, and were coming home at a steady pace, when they were met near Newton by the other three en- gines, which were then attached to the rest, and they arrived in Liverpool about ten o’clock. “ Thus ended a pageant, which, for importance as to its ob- THE RAILROAD SYSTEM. 25 ject and grandeur in its details, is admitted to have exceeded anything ever witnessed. We conversed with many gentlemen of great experience in public life, who spoke of the scene as sur- passing anything they had ever beheld, and who computed, upon data which they considered to be satisfactory, that not fewer than 500,000 persons must have been spectators of the procession.” So far from being a success, the occasion was, after the accident to Mr. Huskisson, such a series of mor- tifying disappointments and the Duke of Wellington’s experience at Manchester had been so very far re- moved from gratifying, that the directors of the com- pany felt moved to exonerate themselves from the load of censure by an official explanation. This they did in the following language : “ On the subject of delay which took place in the starting from Manchester, and consequently in the arrival at Liverpool, of the last three engines, with twenty-four carriages and six hundred passengers, being the train allotted to six of the engines, we are authorized to state that the directors think it due to the proprie- tors and others constituting the large assemblage of company in the above trains to make known the following particulars : “ Three out of the six locomotive engines, which belonged to the above teams, had proceeded on the south road from Man- chester to Eccles, to take in water, with the intention of return- ing to Manchester, and so getting out of that line of road before any of the trains should start on their return home. Before this, however, was accomplished, the following circumstances seemed to render it imperative for the train of carriages, containing the Duke of Wellington and a great many of the distinguished visit- ors to leave Manchester. The eagerness on the part of the crowd to see the Duke, and to shake hands with him, was very great, so much so, that his Grace held out both his hands to the press- 2 26 THE GENESIS OF in g multitude at the same time : the assembling crowd becom- ing more dense every minute, closely surrounded the carriages, as the principal attraction was this particular train. The diffi- culty of proceeding at all increased every moment and conse- quently the danger of accident upon the attempt being made to force a way through the throng also increased. At this junc- ture Mr. Lavender, the head of the police establishment of Man- chester, interfered, and entreated that the Duke’s train should move on, or he could not answer for the consequences. Under these circumstances, and the day being well advanced, it was thought expedient at all events to move forward while it was still practicable to do so. The order was accordingly given, and the train passed along out of the immediate neighborhood of Manchester without accident to any one. When they had proceeded a few miles they fell in with the engines belonging to the trains left at Manchester, and these engines being on the same line as the carriages of the procession, there was no alter- native but bringing the Duke’s train back through the dense multitude to Manchester, or proceeding with three extra engines to the neighborhood of Liverpool, (all passing places from one road to the other being removed, with a view to safety, on the occasion,) and afterwards sending them back to the assistance of the trains unfortunately left behind. It was determined to proceed towards Liverpool, as being decidedly the most advis- able course under the circumstances of the case ; and it may be mentioned for the satisfaction of any party who may have con- sidered that he was in some measure left in the lurch, that Mr. Moss, the Deputy Chairman, had left Mrs. Moss and several of his family to come with the trains which had been so left behind. Three engines having to draw a load calculated for six, their progress was of course much retarded, besides a considerable delay which took place before the starting of the last trains, owing to the uncertainty which existed as to what had become of the three missing engines. These engines, after proceeding to within a few miles of Liverpool, were enabled to return to THE RAILROAD SYSTEM. 2 7 Parkside (in the neighborhood of Newton) where they were at- tached to the other three, and the whole proceeding safely to Liverpool, where they arrived at ten in the evening.” The case was, however, here stated, to say the least, in the mildest possible manner. The fact was that the authorities at Manchester had, and not without reason, passed a very panic-stricken hour on account of the Duke of Wellington. That person- age had been in a position of no inconsiderable peril. Though the reporter preserved a decorous silence on that point, the ministerial car had on the way been pelted, as well as hooted ; and at Manches- ter a vast mass of not particularly well disposed per- sons had fairly overwhelmed both police and soldiery, and had taken complete possession of the tracks. They were not riotous, but they were very rough ; and they insisted on climbing upon the carriages and pressing their attentions on the distinguished inmates in a manner somewhat at variance with English ideas of propriety. The Duke’s efforts at conciliatory manners, as evinced through much hand-shaking and baby-kissing, were not without significance. It was small matter for wonder, therefore, that the terrified authorities, before they got him out of their town, heartily regretted that they had not allowed him to have his own way after the accident to Mr. Huskisson, when he proposed to turn back without coming to it. Having once got him safely started back to Liverpool, therefore, they preferred to leave the other guests to take care of themselves, rather 2S THE GENESIS OF than have the Duke face the crowd again. As there were no sidings on that early road, and the connections between the tracks had, as a measure of safety, been temporarily removed, the ministerial train in moving towards Liverpool had necessarily shoved before it the engines belonging to the other trains. The unfortunate guests on those other trains, thus left to their fate, had for the rest of the day a very dreary time of it. To avoid accidents, the six trains abandoned at Manchester were united into one, to which were attached the three locomotives remaining. In this form they started. Presently the strain broke the couplings. Pieces of rope were then put in requisition, and again they got in motion. In due time the three other engines came along, but they could only be used by putting them on in front of the three already attached to the train. Two of them were used in that way, and the eleven cars thus drawn by five locomotives, and preceded at a short distance by one other, went on towards Liverpool. It was dark, and to meet the exigencies of the occa- sion the first germ of the present elaborate system of railroad night signals was improvised on the spot. From the foremost and pioneer locomotive obstacles were signalled to the train locomotives by the very primitive expedient of swinging the lighted end of a tar-rope. At Rainhill the weight of the train proved too much for the combined motive-power, and the thoroughly wearied passengers had to leave their carriages and walk up the incline. When they got to THE RAILROAD SYSTEM. 2 9 the summit and resuming their seats, were again in motion, fresh delay was occasioned by the leading locomotive running into a wheel-barrow, maliciously placed on the track to obstruct it. Not until ten o’clock did they enter the tunnel at Liverpool. Meanwhile all sorts of rumors of general disaster had for hours been circulating among the vast concourse of spectators who were assembled waiting for their friends, and whose relief expressed itself in hearty cheers as the train at last rolled safely into the station. We have also Miss Kemble’s story of this day, to which in her letter of August 25th she had looked forward with such eager interest. With her father and mother she had been staying at a country place in Lancashire, and in her account of the affair written in 1876 she says : “ The whole gay party assembled at Heaton, my mother and myself included, went to Liverpool for the opening of the rail- road. The throng of strangers gathered there for the same pur- pose made it almost impossible to obtain a night’s lodging for love or money ; and glad and thankful were we, to put up with and be put up in a tiny garret by an old friend, Mr. Redley, of the Adelphi, which many would have given twice what we paid to obtain. The day opened gloriously, and never was an innu- merable concourse of sight-seers in better humor than the surg- ing, swaying crowd that lined the railroad with living faces. . . . After this disastrous event [the accident to Mr. Huskisson,] the day became overcast, and as we neared Manchester the sky grew cloudy and dark, and it began to rain. The vast concourse of people who had assembled to witness the triumphant arrival of the successful travelers was of the lowest order of mechanics 30 THE GENESIS OF and artisans, among- whom great distress and a dangeious spirit of discontent with the government at that time prevailed. Groans and hisses greeted the carriage, full of influential personages, in which the Duke of Wellington sat. High above the grim and grimy crowd of scowling faces a loom had been erected, at which sat a tattered, starved-looking weaver, evidently set there as a representative man, to protest against this triumph of machinery, and the gain and glory which the wealthy Liverpool and Man- chester men were likely to derive from it. The contrast between our departure from Liverpool and our arrival at Manchester was one of the most striking things I ever witnessed. * * * Manchester, September 20th, 1830. My Dearest H— : ^ ^ ^ ^ 5 } “You probably have by this time heard and read accounts of the opening of the railroad, and the fearful accident which oc- curred at it, for the papers are full of nothing else. The accident you mention did occur, but though the unfortunate man who was killed bore Mr. Stephenson’s name, he was not related to him. [Besides Mr. Huskisson, another man named Stephenson had about this time been killed on the railroad.] I will tell you something of the events on the fifteenth, as, though you may be acquainted with the circumstances of poor Mr. Hus- kisson’s death, none but an eye-witness of the whole scene can form a conception of it. I told you that we had had places given to us, and it was the main purpose of our returning from Birmingham to Manchester to be present at what promised to be one of the most striking events in the scientific annals of our country. We started on Wednesday last, to the number of about eight hundred people, in carriages constructed as I before de- scribed to you. The most intense curiosity and excitement pre- vailed, and though the weather was uncertain, enormous masses of densely packed people lined the road, shouting and waving hats and handkerchiefs as we flew by them. What with the THE RAILROAD SYSTEM. 31 sight and sound of these cheering multitudes and the tremen- dous velocity with which we were borne past them, my spirits rose to the true champagne height, and I never enjoyed anything so much as the first hour of our progress. I had been unluckily separated from my mother in the first distribution of places, but by an exchange of seats which she was enabled to make she re- joined me, when I was at the height of my ecstacy, which was considerably damped by finding that she was frightened to death, and intent upon nothing but devising means of escaping from a situation which appeared to her to threaten with instant annihila- tion herself and all her travelling companions. While I was chewing the cud of this disappointment, which was rather bitter, as I expected her to be as delighted as myself with our excur- sion, a man flew by us, calling out through a speaking trumpet to stop the engine, for that somebody in the directors’ car had sustained an injury. We were all stopped accordingly and pres- ently a hundred voices were heard exclaiming that Mr. Huskis- son was killed. The confusion that ensued is indescribable ; the calling out from carriage to carriage to ascertain the truth, the contrary reports which were sent back to us, the hundred ques- tions eagerly uttered at once, and the repeated and urgent de- mands for surgical assistance, created a sudden turmoil that was quite sickening. At last we distinctly ascertained that the un- fortunate man’s thigh was broken. “From Lady W — , who was in the duke’s carriage, and within three yards of the spot where the accident happened, I had the following details, the horror of witnessing w T hich we were spared through our situation behind the great carriage. The engine had stopped to take in a supply of water, and sev- eral of the gentlemen in the directors’ carriage had jumped out to look about them. Lord W — , Count Batthyany, Count Ma- tuscenitz, and Mr. Huskisson among the rest were standing talking in the middle of the road, when an engine on the other line, which was parading up and down merely to show its speed, was seen coming down upon them like lightning. The most 32 THE GENESIS OF active of those in peril sprang back into their seats ; Lord W — saved his life only by rushing behind the duke’s carriage, Count Matuscenitz had but just leaped into it, with the engine all but touching his heels as he did so ; while poor Mr. Huskisson, less active from the effects of age and ill health, bewildered too by the frantic cries of * Stop the engine ! Clear the track ! ’ that resounded on all sides, completely lost his head, looked help- lessly to the right and left, and was instantaneously prostrated by the fatal machine, which dashed down like a thunderbolt upon him, and passed over his leg, smashing and manglingit in the most horrible way. (Lady W — said she distinctly heard the crushing of the bone.) So terrible was the effect of the ap- palling accident that except that ghastly “ crushing ” and poor Mrs. Huskisson ’s piercing shriek, not a sound was heard or a word uttered among the immediate spectators of the catastrophe. Lord W— was the first to raise the poor sufferer, and calling to his aid his surgical skill, which is considerable, he tied up the severed artery, and for a time at least, prevented death by a loss of blood. Mr. Huskisson was then placed in a carriage with his wife and Lord W — , and the engine having been detached from the directors’ carriage, conveyed them to Manchester. So great was the shock produced upon the whole party by this event that the Duke of Wellington declared his intention not to proceed, but to return immediately to Liverpool. However, upon its being represented to him that the whole population of Man- chester had turned out to witness the procession, and that a dis- appointment might give rise to riots and disturbances, he con- sented to go on, and gloomily enough the rest of the journey was accomplished. We had intended returning to Liverpool by the railroad, but Lady W — , who seized upon me in the midst of the crowd, persuaded us to accompany her home, which we gladly did. Lord W — , did not return till past ten o’clock, at which hour he brought the intelligence of Mr. Huskisson’s death. I need not tell you of the sort of whispering awe which this event threw over our whole circle ; and yet great as was the THE RAILROAD SYSTEM. 33 horror excited by it, I could not help feeling how evanescent the effect of it was, after all. The shuddering terror of seeing our fellow-creature thus struck down by our side, and the breathless thankfulness for our own preservation, rendered the first even- ing of our party at Heaton almost solemn ; but the next day the occurrence became a subject of earnest, it is true, but free discussion ; and after that was alluded to with almost as little apparent feeling as if it had not passed under our eyes, and with- in the space of a few hours.” In spite of accidents and contre-temps, however, the road was opened to traffic, and at once proceeded to outdo in its results the most eager anticipations of its friends. No account of its first beginnings would, however, be complete for our time, which did not also give an idea of the impressions produced on one travelling over it before yet the novelty of the thing had quite worn away. It was a long time, comparatively, after September, 1830, before the men who had made a trip over the railroad ceased to be objects of deep curiosity. Here is the account of his experience by one of these far-travelled men, with all its freshness still lingering about it : “ Although the whole passage between Liverpool and Man- chester is a series of enchantments, surpassing any in the Ara- bian Nights, because they are realities, not fictions, yet there are certain epochs in the transit which are peculiarly exciting. These are the startings, the ascents, the descents, the tunnels, the Chat Moss, the meetings. At the instant of starting, or rather before, the automaton belches forth an explosion of steam, and seems for a second or two quiescent. But quickly the explosions are reiterated, with shorter and shorter intervals, till they become too rapid to be counted, though still distinct. 34 THE GENESIS OF These belchings or explosions more nearly resemble the pant- ings of a lion or tiger, than any sound that has ever vibrated on my ear. During the ascent they became slower and slower, till the automaton actually labors like an animal out of breath, from the tremendous efforts to gain the highest point of eleva- tion. The progression is proportionate ; and before the said point is gained, the train is not moving faster than a horse can pace. With the slow motion of the mighty and animated machine, the breathing becomes more laborious, the growl more distinct, till at length the animal appears exhausted, and groans like the tiger, when overpowered in combat by the buffalo. “ The moment that the height is reached and the descent commences, the pantings rapidly increase ; the engine with its train starts off with augmenting velocity ; and in a few seconds it is flying down the declivity like lightning, and with a uniform growl or roar, like a continuous discharge of distant artillery. “At this period, the whole train is going at the rate of thirty- five or forty miles an hour ! I was on the outside, and in front of the first carriage, just over the engine. The scene was mag- nificent, I had almost said terrific. Although it was a dead calm the wind appeared to be blowing a hurricane, such was the velocity with which we darted through the air. Yet all was steady ; and there was something in the precision of the ma- chinery that inspired a degree of confidence over fear — of safety over danger. A man may travel from the Pole to the Equator, from the Straits of Malacca to the Isthmus of Darien, and he will see nothing so astonishing as this. The pangs of Etna and Vesuvius excite feelings of horror as well as of terror ; the con- vulsion of the elements during a thunderstorm carries with it nothing but pride, much less of pleasure, to counteract the awe inspired by the fearful workings of perturbed nature ; but the scene which is here presented, and which I cannot adequately describe, engenders a proud consciousness of superiority in hu- man ingenuity, more intense and convincing than any effort or THE RAILROAD SYSTEM. 35 product of the poet, the painter, the philosopher, or the divine. The projections or transits of the train through the tunnels or arches, are very electrifying. The deafening peal of thunder, the sudden immersion in gloom, and the clash of reverberated sounds in confined space, combine to produce a momentary shudder or idea of destruction — a thrill of annihilation, which is instantly dispelled on emerging into the cheerful light. “ The meetings or crossings of the steam trains flying in op- posite directions are scarcely less agitating to the nerves than their transits through the tunnels. The velocity of their course, the propinquity or apparent identity of the iron orbits along which these meteors move, call forth the involuntary but fearful thought of a possible collision, with all its horrible consequences. The period of suspense, however, though exquisitely painful, is but momentary ; and in a few seconds the object of terror is far out of sight behind. “ Nor is the rapid passage across Chat Moss unworthy of notice. The ingenuity with which two narrow rods of iron are made to bear whole trains of wagons, laden with many hundred tons of commerce, and bounding across a wide, semi-fluid mo- rass, previously impassable by man or beast, is beyond all praise and deserving of eternal record. Only conceive a slender bridge of two minute iron rails, several miles in length, level as Waterloo, elastic as whalebone, yet firm as adamant ! Along this splen- did triumph of human genius — this veritable via triump halts — the train of carriages bounds with the velocity of the stricken deer ; the vibrations of the resilient moss causing the ponderous engine and its enormous suite to glide along the surface of an extensive quagmire as safely as a practiced skater skims the icy mirror of a frozen lake. “The first class or train is the most fashionable, but the sec- ond or third are the most amusing. I travelled one day from Liverpool to Manchester in the lumber train. Many of the car- riages were occupied by the swinish multitude, and others by a multitude of swine. These last were naturally vociferous if not 36 THE GENESIS OF eloquent. It is evident that the other passengers would have been considerably annoyed by the orators of this last group, had there not been stationed in each carriage an officer somewhat analogous to the Usher of the Black Rod, but whose designa- tion on the railroad I found to be ‘ Comptroller of the Gammon.* No sooner did one of the long-faced gentlemen raise his note too high, or wag his jaw too long, than the ‘ Comptroller of the Gam- mon * gave him a whack over the snout with the butt end of his shillelagh ; a snubber which never failed to stop his oratory for the remainder of the journey.” To one familiar with the history of English rail- road legislation the last paragraph is peculiarly sig- nificant. For years after the railroad system was in- augurated, and until legislation was invoked to com- pel something better, the companies persisted in carrying passengers of the third class in uncovered carriages, exposed to all weather, and with no more decencies or comforts than were accorded to swine. Naturally, the beginning of the railroad system in America, was neither so interesting nor so picturesque as it had been in the case of Great Britain. At most it was but an imitation ; and that too, on a small scale. Yet, about all its details there was something which cannot but be peculiarly suggestive to the American of the present day. As you review the record, it seems to relate to another country and almost to a different world. With the Manchester & Liverpool road this was not so. There the thing, for a begin- ning, was on a large scale. The cost of the struc- THE RAILROAD SYSTEM. 37 ture, the number of the locomotives, the fame of the guests, the mass and excitement of the spectators were all equal to the occasion. This was not so in America. Everything was diminutive and poor in 1831. The provincialism of the time and place is almost oppressive. In turning over the old records the eye constantly rests on the names, familiar to us, of men now living ; but it seems scarcely possible that any human life can have spanned the well nigh in- credible gap which separates the America of 1878 from that of 1830. Certainly, neither anywhere else nor at any other time has the world in a space of less than fifty years witnessed such extraordinary develop- ment. Whatever credit is due to the construction of the first railroad ever built in America is usually claimed for the State of Massachusetts. Every one who has ever looked into a school history of the United States knows something of the Quincy railway of 1826. Properly speaking, however, this was never — or at least, never until the year 1871, — a railroad at all. It was nothing but a specimen of what had been al- most from time immemorial in common use in Eng- land, under the name of “ tram-ways.” Indeed it is a curious illustration of the combined poverty and back- wardness of America at that time, that so common and familiar an appliance should only then have been in- troduced, and should have excited so much interest and astonishment. This road, known as the Granite railway, was built by those interested in erecting the 38 THE GENESIS OF Bunker Hill Monument, for the purpose of getting the stone down from the Quincy quarries to a wharf on Neponset River, from which it was shipped to its des- tination. The whole distance was three miles, and the cost of the road was about $34,000. At the quarry end there was a steep inclined plane, up and down which the cars were moved by means of a stationary engine. From the foot of that incline the road sloped gently off to its river terminus. There was nothing in its construction which partook of the character of a modern railroad. The tracks were five feet apart, and laid on stone sleepers eight feet apart. On this stone substructure wooden rails were laid, and upon these another rail of strap iron. .Down this road two horses could draw a load of forty tons, and thus the expense of moving stone from the quarries to the river was reduced to about a sixth part of what it was while the highway alone was in use. Such was the famous Quincy railway, the con- struction of which is still referred to as marking an era of the first importance in American history. Such, also, it remained down to the year 1871, — a mere tramway, operated exclusively by means of horses. In that year the franchise v/as at last pur- chased by the Old Colony Railroad Company, the ancient structure was completely demolished, and a modern railroad built on the right of way. Through the incorporation into it of the old Granite railway, therefore, the line which connects the chief town of what was once Plymouth Colony with the chief town THE RAILROAD SYSTEM . 39 of what was once the colony of Massachusetts Bay has become the oldest railroad line in America. In this there is, so to speak, a manifest historical pro- priety. Apart, however, from the construction of the Granite railway, Massachusetts was neither particu- larly early nor particularly energetic in its railroad development. At a later day many of her sister States were in advance of her, and especially was this true of South Carolina. There is, indeed, some reason for believing that the South Carolina Rail- road was the first ever constructed in any country with a definite plan of operating it exclusively by locomotive steam power. But in America there was not, — indeed from the very circumstances of the case there could not have been, — any such dramatic occasions and surprises as those witnessed at Liver- pool in 1829 and 1830. Nevertheless the people of Charleston were pressing close on the heels of those of Liverpool, for on the 15th of January 1831, — exactly four months after theformal opening of the Manchester & Liverpool road, — t he firs t anniversary of the South Carolina Railroad was celebrated with due honor. A queer looking machine, the outline of which was sufficient in itself to prove that the in- ventor owed nothing to Stephenson, had been con- structed at the West Point Foundry Works in New York during the summer of 1830 — a first attempt to supply that locomotive power which the Board had, with a sublime confidence in possibilities, unanimous- 40 THE GENESIS OF ly voted on the 14th of the preceding January should alone be used on the road. The name of Best Friend was given to this very simple product of na- tive genius. The idea of the multitubular boiler had not yet suggested itself in America. The Best Friend , therefore, was supplied with a common ver- tical boiler u in form of an old fashioned porter-bottle, the furnace at the bottom surrounded with water, and all filled inside of what we call teats, running out from the sides and tops.” By means of these pro- jections, or “ teats,” a portion at least of the neces- sary heating surface was provided. The cylinder was at the front of the platform, the rear end of which was occupied by the boiler, and it was fed by means of a connecting pipe. Thanks to the indefatigable researches of an enthusiast on railroad construction, we have an account of the performances of this, and all the other pioneers among American locomotives ; and the pictures with which Mr. W. H. Brown has enriched his book* would alone render it both curious and valuable. Prior to the stockholders* anniversary of January 15th, 1831, it seems that th