The life of George Stephenson, railway engineer - Lighthouse ...

CHAP. XIV.] WILLIAM JAMES. I53
of rapid transit. For instance, Mr. Edgeworth in a communication
to James Watt, dated the 7th of August, 1813, observed:
— " I have always thought that steam would become the univer-
sal lord, and that we should in time scorn post-horses. An iron
railroad would be a cheaper thing than a road on the common
construction." * These, however, were merely guesses at
what might be done, and were of no assistance towards the prac-
tical solution of the problem. Yet they show that many ad-
vanced minds were already anticipating the adoption of steam
power for purposes of railway traction. At the same time there
was at work a more profitable class of labourers—the public-
spirited men who were engaged in projecting and actually form-
ing railways to supply the wants of important districts of popu-
lation. Among the most prominent of these were William
James of West Bromwich, and Edward Pease of Darlington.
William James was instrumental in giving a great impetus to
the question of railway locomotion ; and though he did not dis-
cover the locomotive, he did what was the next best thing to it,
he discovered George Stephenson. He was a man of consider-
able fortune, and occupied an influential position in society.
Possessed of a good address, and mixing freely with men of the
highest ranks, he was enabled to gain a hearing for his specula-
tions where humbler persons had no chance of being listened to.
Besides being an extensive land-owner and land-agent, he was
engaged as an iron and coal-miner, and at one time occupied the
honourable position of chairman of the Staffordshire iron-
masters.
Mr. James was a bold, and, as many considered him, a reck-
less projector. When he had determined upon any scheme, he
was quite regardless of the cost at which he carried it out. He
did not confine himself to projects connected with his own partic-
ular interests, but was constantly engaged in devising things for
the public, which the public shook its cautious head at, and
would not have at any price. At a very early period of his
life he was an advocate of railways. It was not merely a sober
conviction of their utility that influenced him ; the idea of rail-
* Muirhead's Mechanical Inventions of James Watt, vol. i. p. 240.
7*