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

334 LIFE OF GEOEGE STEPHENSON. [chap, xxvii.
he had gained in the northern coal districts, early detected the
importance of the Midland Railway as opening up new markets
for the vend of coal which abounded in the district through
which it passed. At a time when everybody else was skeptical
as to the possibihty of coals being carried from the midland
counties, and sold in London at a price to compete with seaborne
coals, he declared his firm conviction that the time was
fast approaching when the London market would be regularly
supplied with north-country coals led by railway. One of the
greatest advantages of railways, in his opinion, was that they
would bring coal and iron, the staple products of the country, to
the doors of all England. " The strength of Britain," he would
say, " lies in her coal-beds ; and the locomotive is destined, above
all other agencies, to bring it forth. The Lord Chancellor now
sits upon a bag of wool ; but wool has long ceased to be emble-
matical of the staple commodity of England. He ought rather
to sit upon a ,bag of coals, though it might not prove quite so
comfortable a seat. Then think of the Lord Chancellor being
addressed as the noble and learned lord on the coal-saek ! I am
afraid it wouldn't answer, after all."
To one gentleman he said, " We want from the coal-mining,
the iron-producing, and manufacturing districts, a great railway
for the carriage of these valuable products. We want, if I may
so say, a stream of steam running directly through the country^
from the North to London, and from other similar districts to
London ; speed is not so much an object as utility and cheap-
ness." And at a meeting of railway proprietors at York, in
1840, he told them " there was little doubt in his mind that coals
would in a very short time be supplied to the London market
from that county by means of their line." * He proved his con-
viction by acting upon it, taking a lease of the Clay Cross Col-
liery, in anticipation of the demand for railway-led coals. In
this, as in some other matters, Mr. Stephenson was rather ahead
of his time ; and though the Clay Cross Colliery did not prove
a very successful venture, and he did not live to see his anticipa-
tions as to the supply of the London coal market fully realized,
yet he was the first to point out, and, to some extent, to prove
* Meeting of the York and North Midland Company, 19th July, 1840.