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

CHAP. XVIII.] THE CANAL INTERESTS. I97
ing establishments had already possession of all the water. There
was no choice left but a tram or railroad, and the very necessities
of the case forced on the adoption of the measure. Even though
worked by horses, the proposed tramroad would be a valuable
auxiliary to the existing means of conveyance. A public meet-
ing was held at Liverpool to consider the best plan to be adopted,
and a railway was determined on. A committee was appointed
to take the necessary measures ; but, as if reluctant to enter
upon their arduous struggle with " vested interests," they first
waited on Mr. Bradshaw, the Duke of Bridgewater's canal agent,
in the hope of persuading him to increase the means of con-
veyance, as well as to reduce the charges ; but they were only
met by an unqualified refusal. They suggested the expediency
of a railway, and even invited Mr. Bradshaw to become a large
!
proprietor of shares. But his reply was— " All or none " The
canal proprietors were confident in their imagined security.
They revelled in the prospect of enjoying in perpetuity their
enormous dividends, which were so great that one of their un-
dertakings (the Old Quay) had paid to its thirty-nine proprietors,
every other year for half a century, the total amount of their
original investment ; and the income derived from the Duke of
Bridgewater's canal amounted to not less than 100,000^. a year.
Mr. Bradshaw knew that no third canal could be made, because
all the available water was already absorbed by the two existing
ones. As for the proposed railway, the canal proprietors ridi-
culed it as a chimera. It had been spoken about years before,
when Mr. James made his survey, and nothing had come of it
then. It would be the same now. The thing, they said, was
got up merely to frighten them ; but they were not so to be in-
timidated. The old system must therefore continue ; and there
was no alternative for the merchants of Liverpool and the manu-
facturers of Manchester but to submit with the best grace pos-
sible to the obstructions and extortions of the canal companies.
In order to form an opinion of the practicability of a railroad,
a deputation consisting of Mr. Sandars, Mr. Lister Ellis, Mr.
Henry Booth of Liverpool, and Mr. Kennedy of Manchester
proceeded to Killingworth, to inspect the engines which had been
so long in use there. They first went to Darlington, where they