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

432 LIFE OF GEORGE STEPHENSON. [chap. xxxv.
designed and laid out by him many years before. The first sod
of the railway was cut by the Prime Minister himself, in No-
vember, 1845, during the time when Mr. Stephenson was abroad
on the business of the Spanish railway. The formal opening
took place on the 26th of June, 1847, the line having thus been
constructed in less than two years.
What a change had come over the spirit of the landed gentry
since the time when George Stephenson had first projected a
railway through that district! Then they were up in arms
against him, characterizing him as a devastator and spoiler of
their estates ; now he was hailed as one of the greatest benefac-
tors of the age. Sir Eobert Peel, the chief political personage
in England, welcomed him as a guest and a friend, and spoke of
him as the chief of our practical philosophers. A dozen mem-
bers of parliament, seven baronets, with all the landed magnates
of the district, assembled to celebrate the opening of the railway.
The clergy were there to bless the enterprise, and to bid all hail
to railway progress, as " enabling them to carry on with greater
facility those operations in connection with religion which were
calculated to be so beneficial to the country." * The army,
speaking through the mouth of General A'Court, acknowledged
the vast importance of railways, as tending to improve the mili-
tary defences of the country. And representatives from eight
corporations were there to acknowledge the great benefits which
railways had conferred upon the merchants, tradesmen, and
working classes of their respective towns and cities. Amongst
those present who could not fail to contrast the now triumphant
success of railways with the dismal forebodings uttered twenty
years before, was Mr. William Yates Peel, one of the earliest
supporters of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway.
Sir Eobert Peel made a capital speech on the occasion, point-
ing out that, at a remote period in the history of British high
roads, 2000 years ago, Julius Agricola, who united in his person
both engineer and contractor—being the Stephenson and Brassey
of his day,—had formed a direct line of communication between
London and Chester, though with unfavourable gradients. As
to the immense advantages of railways, there could be no man-
* Speech of Archdeacon Hodson at the opening of the Trent Valley Eailway.