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

370 LIFE OP GEORGE STEPHENSON. [chap. xxx.
tion throughout Great Britain ; they had also been largely
adopted by Belgium, France, and the United States. Twenty-
five hundred miles of railway, almost all of them double lines,
had been laid down in these islands alone, connecting all the
principal towns and provinces with the capital ; joining in a
more close and intimate union the various branches of the body
politic, commercial and literary, with that great centre. Many
new and important branches of industry had been entirely cre-
ated by this new agency ; and a stimulus had been given to
all the existing departments of trade, as well as to the develop-
ment of the bountiful resources of the soil, by which largely in-
creased employment had been secured to the labouring classes.
Some sixty millions of money had already been expended in
forming railways ; and this large investment was now return-
ing about five millions yearly to the capitalists, for re-invests
ment and further extension of the system. This vast iron
revolution had been accomplished in a period of about ten
years. So extraordinary a movement, powerfully aflfecting as
it did all our social and commercial relations, and coming so
closely home to the interests of every member of the com-
munity, had never before been experienced in our nation's
history.
George Stephenson, above all others, had been the zealous
propagandist of this great change. His ingenuity and persever-
vance had made the railway system practicable. His zeal and
devotion had secured its success. "What more natural than that
some public mark of honour should be conferred upon him in
recognition of his wonderful discovery ? for such, in point of fact,
it was. Had he been a Frenchman or a Belgian, the honours of
the State would have been showered upon him. Had he in-
vented a shell or a bullet to the satisfaction of the Board of
Ordnance, the British Government might have recognized him.
Perhaps, had he pointed out to the country gentlemen some im-
proved mode of patching up the old common roads and preserv-
ing turnpike trusts, he might have been honoured and rewarded
as Macadam was. But who would now venture to compare the
improver of turnpikes with the inventor of railroade, looking at
the public benefits conferred by the Respective systems ? Yet