The Press.
London, England, 1857-07-04 00:00:00

THE PRESS, JULY 4, 1857.

credit, yet there seems little doubt that the
fundamental principle of the invention was
exclusively his own discovery.
Mr. Smiles gives us a very interesting chap-
ter on the various theories which had prevailed
during the last two centuries relative to the
employment of steam power. Among other
curious anecdotes is one of a certain French-
man named Solomon de Cans :
Solomon de Cans, who was shut up for his supposed
madness in the Bicetre at Paris, seems to have been the
first to conceive the idea of employing steam for moving
carriages on land as well as ships at sea. Marion de
Lorme, in a letter to the Marquis de Cinque•Mars, dated
Paris, February, 16-11, thus describes a visit paid to this
celebrated madhouse in the company of the English
Marquis of Worcester:—" We were crossing the court,
and 1, more dead than alive with fright, kept close to my
companion's side, when a frightful face appeared behind
some immense bars, and a hoarse voice exclaimed, ` I am
not mad ! lam not mad ! I have made a discovery that
would enrich the country that adopted it.' `What has he
discovered ? ' asked our guide. 'Oh ! ' answered the
keeper, shrugging his shoulders, 'something trifling
enough : you would never guess it ; it is the use of the
steam of boiling water' I began to laugh. ' This man,'
continued the keeper, ' is named Solomon de Cans; he
came from Normandy four years ago to present to the
King a statement of the wonderful effects that might be
produced from his invention. To listen to him, you
would imagine that with steam you could navigate ships,
move carriages; in fact, there is no end to the miracles
which, he insists upon it, could be performed. The
Cardinal sent the madman sway without listening to him.
Solomon de Cans, far from being discouraged, followed
the Carlinal wherever he went with the most determined
perseverance, who, tired of finding him for ever in his
path, and annoyed at his folly, shut him up in the Bicetre.
He has even written a book about it, which I have here.' "
It apiears that the Marquis of Worcester was greatly
struck by the appearance of De Cans, and afterwards
studied his book, portions of which he embodied in his
" Century of Inventions." The marquis is also said to
have entertained the idea of moving carriages by steam
power, but never embodied it in any practical form.

But this portion of the work, as well as tha
earlier speculations of Stephenson himself, we
must hasten to exchange for the more striking
narrative of his later successes, and the final
establishment of railways throughout England.
The Stockton and Darlington line—the first
regular railway in England—was opened on
the 19th of September, 1825, and to Stephen-
son's own mind afforded an entirely satisfac-
tory proof of the correctness of his own
theories. But five years more of hard fighting
were to intervene before the principle was
triumphantly established. That principle was,
the superiority of locomotive to stationary
engines, and, as corollaries, their adaptation
to passenger traffic, and the possibility of a
high rate of velocity. Stephenson had now,
however, acquired a numerous land of wealthy
and influential supporters, who were firm
believers in his genius, and shared in the
sanguine views he entertained of the future of
railroads. The merchants of Liverpool and
Manchester were the first to take up the sub-
ject with energy; and on the Liverpool and
Manchester Railway Bill the real battle of
steam was fought and won. After this victory
all other struggles became easy, and Mr.
Smiles has, we think, done quite right in
assigning to it so prominent a place in his
work.
When the bill first came before a committee
of the House of Commons, a formidable array
of legal talent appeared on the side of its oppo-
nents. Alderson, Parke, Rose, and Earle were
a combination sufficient to alarm the bravest ;
and the result showed that Stephenson had
calculated too much on the abstract justice of
his cause, and given too little time to the pre-
paration of evidence. Tho conduct of the
case is given by Mr. Smiles with great spirit,
and Stephenson's cross-examination by Mr.
Alderson will be read with general interest.
That able lawyer seems to have succeeded in
embarrassing and disconcerting the witness,
and no doubt the rejection of the bill was
principally due to his exertions. Stephenson,
however, had his revenge on a member of the
committee

One of the members of the committee pressed the
witness a little further. He put the following case :
" Suppose. now, nne ,)f these engines to be going along a
railroad at the rate of nine or ten miles an hour, and
that a cow were to stray upon the line and get in the way
of the engine; would not that, think you, be a very
awkward circumstance ?" " Yes," replied the witness,
with a twinkle in his eve, " veiry awk vard indeed —fie the
coo!" The honourable member did not proceed further
with his cross examination.

Stephenson, it must be remembered, through-
out his life spoke with a strong Northumbrian

accent, which added not a little to the effect
of his humorous sayings.
All the leAding engineers of the day gave
their evidence against the schemes of an illi-
terate charlatan, as it was the fashion to con-
sider the father of British railways; and we
can well imagine the effect produced, not only
upon the committee but the public generally,
by the summing-up speech of Mr. Alderson,
who employed all his powers of wit and sar-
casm to discredit an already unpopular move-
ment. The draining of Chat Moss was one of
the insuperable difficulties denounced by the
authorities of the day. Mr. Alderson thus
alludes to it in his peroration :

Having now, sir, gone through Chat Moss, and having
shown that Mr. Giles is right in his principle when he
adopts a solid railway—and I care not whether Mr. Giles
is right or wrong in his estimate, for whether it be
effected by means of piers raised up all the way for four
miles through Chat Moss, whether they are to support it
on beams of wood or by erecting masonry, or whether Mr.
Giles shall put a solid bank of earth through it—in all
these schemes there is not one found like that of Mr.
Stephenson's, namely, to cut impossible drains on the side
of this road ; and it is sufficient for me to suggest and to
show that this scheme of Mr. Stephenson's is impossible
or impracticable, and that no other scheme, if they proceed
upon this line, can be suggested which will not produce
enormous expense. I think that has been irrefragably
made out. Every one knows Chat floss—svery one
knows that Mr. Giles speaks correctly when he says the
iron sinks immediately on its being put upon the surface.
I have heard of culverts, which have been put upon the
Moss, which, after having been surveyed the day before,
have the next morning disappeared; and that a house
(a poet's house, who may be supposed in the habit of
building castles even in the air), story after story, as fast
as one is added, the lower one sinks ! There is nothing
it appears, except long sedgy grass, and a little soil, to,
prevent its sinking into the shades of eternal night. I
have now done, sir, with Chat Moss, and there I leave this
railroad.

The bill was thrown out by a considerable
majority; but, almost before the proceedings
were concluded, measures were in preparation
for the introduction of a fresh one.

We need not recapitulate an old story. A
more carefully prepared bill was passed through
Parliament in the following session. The
works were at once commenced. After vast
labour and perseverance, all difficulties wero
overcome. The formidable Chat Moss was
bridged by a level road, as firmly seated in the
swa►np as Delos in the waves of the sea. The
line was completed, and a prize was announced
for the most successful locomotive engine, to
be contended for over a course of two miles on
the new line. On the appointed day four
engines were entered, but none fulfilled the
required conditions but " Mr. Stephenson's
Rocket," which accordingly received the prize
of 8001, and was deputed to draw the first
passenger-train between the two great com-
mercial towns. At a banquet subsequently
given to Mr. Stephenson by the engineers of
Belgium, a model of the Rocket engine was
placed upon the table under a triumphal arch,
a compliment prized by their illustrious guest
" more than all the encomiums of the evening."
The opening of the Liverpool and Man-
chester Railway was an event of such magni-
tude as centuries, perhaps, are unlikely to
equal. The wise men of London were con-
founded and put, to shame. Men were now
indeed " galloping through the air" at a pace
which even the "madman" who designed it
had never ventured publicly to predict. Un-
happily, this great triumph was clouded by
the occurrence of a deplorable accident; Mr.
Huskisson was thrown down and killed. But
even his death did something to confirm the
reputation of the rail ; for he was conveyed a
distance of fifteen miles in twenty-five minutes,
" a speed which burst upon the world with all
" the effect of a new and unlooked-for pheno-
" menon."

We need not follow Mr. Stephenson's profes-
sional career any further. Almost all the
leading northern and midland lines of railway,
as well as the London and Birmingham, are
monuments of his genius ; but it is in his
career previous to 1830 that his greatness is
most truly conspicuous. In a period of vague
and ill-grounded speculation—in the teeth of
a powerful and well-organised opposition—in
spite of prejudice, ignorance, and jealousy—he
held fast to the one idea which ultimately
triumphed over them all. His locomotives
and iron rails gradually but surely made their
way against the advocates of fixed engines,
atmospheric pressure, and macadamised roads

—against landlords who trembled for their
privacy and farmers who trembled for their
flocks—against educated ignorance, which
contented itself with repeating that the
thing could never be, and vulgar ignorance,
which saw in the steam-engine the result of
diabolical agency, and believed that where it
passed the air was tainted and birds dropped
dead in their flight. The majority of our
readers can recollect the storm of hostility and
ridicule with which railroads were all but uni-
versally received, but few, perhaps, remember
as they ought that the man who almost alone,
and for a time quite so, breasted that torrent
of legal and scientific abuse, was the humble
and self-educated labourer, George Stephenson.
Mr Stephenson realised a large fortune,
and happily kept aloof from the railway m tnia
of '45. He resided in his latter years at
Tapton, near Chesterfield, where he cultivated
pines and cucumbers with all the energy of
his youth. The simplicity of his character
remained unimpaired to the last ; and he died.
universally lamented by the neighbouring
pow•, on the 12th of August, 1648, in the 67th
year of his age.

1. Cuthbert St. Elute, M.P. ; or, Passages in the
Life of a Politician. London: Hurst and
Blackett.
2. The Two Aristocracies. By Mrs. Gore.

London : Hurst and Blackett.
3. Anne Sherwood ; or, the Social Institutions of
England. London : Bentley.
4. Guy Livingston ; or, " Thorough." London :

J. W. Parker and Son.
1. The author of " Cuthbert St. Elme " has
not done more in his present work than estab-
lish a claim to be classed among successful
novelists—his exact place yet remains to be
fixed. He is deficient in constructive skill,
nor does he at present display that power
of subtle observation combined with te-
nacity of mental grasp without which no
one can collect the elements of human
character, keep them steadily before his mind,
and east them into a congruous whole. But
ho possesses the faculty of description in a
very high degree ; and, as carelessness of con-
struction is a fault which time and industry
may mend, we feel justified in predicting for him
considerable popularity as a tale-writer. The
story which he has to tell he tells well. He is
never tedious, unless now and then in a politi-
cal dissertation ; and his narrative bustles
along to the end without permitting our in-
terest to flag.
In proof of the above assertions we would
point to the characters of the young lady,
Ida, and her idiot brother, together with
the Russian Baron Kirralevski. These are
surely all most unskilful contrivances for help-
ing out the plot. The meeting of the hero with
MA, although we are told it exercised great
influence on his character, does not lead to
his doing any one thing which he would not
have done otherwise. The idiot boy is, if we
may so speak, a diabolus ex machina, which
shares the superfluity of the whole episode.
Ho prevents a marriage which never need
have been contemplated at all, and the possi-
bility of which does not in any way affect the
progress of the story. With regard to the
baron, all that he does might have been done
as well by a far less mysterious agent ; and the
secrecy in which his motives are enveloped
rather provoke impatience than stimulate
curiosity. There is no one in the book who
deserves the name of a " character "; and, as
far as knowledge of life is concerned, the ter-
mination of Norah's escapade is so wholly
oppo-ed to experience, and so entirely without
any cause to account fur it as an exception,
that we cannot but think the author has com-
mitted a grave error of judgment in thus seek-
ing to make his peace with morality at the
eleventh hour.

But if we regard the book as many pic-
tures instead of one, we cannot fail to be
struck with the extreme beauty of par-
ticular passages, and the careful finish of
details. As a specimen, we will offer the scene
in which Norah, a youthful belle, brought up
in the enjoyment of every pleasure which
money and fashion can bestow, is described