The Sun.
London, England, 1847-06-14 00:00:00

HAYMARKET THEATRE.

One of Mr. Planche's clever adaptations of a French
comic drama, was produced on Saturday night, under the
title of The. Jacobite, and was received with the utmost
favour by a crowded audience. The plot, as the name
indicates, is taken from that page in the history of
this country when, after the battle of Culloden, the
adherents of Charles Stuart were hunted down and
executed without much ceremony or forms of law.
Major Murray (Mr. Howe), one of these proscribed
Jacobites, is an object of interest to Lady Somerford
(Miss Fortescue), a young widow, whose ample for-
tune is coveted by her late husband's cousin, Sir
Richard Wroughton (Mr. Stuart), and to possess
which he determines, if possible, to compel her to
marry him. Sir Richard is a staunch royalist, with
powerful interest at Court, which Lady Somerford
prevails on him to employ to procure the pardon or
the young major, who is-concealed in the neighbour-
hood. Sir Richard yields to her wishes, and obtains
the pardon, but deter.nines not to give it to
Lady Somerford unless she consents to give him
her hand. A note from the lady to the major,
appointing a rendezvous at the Crooked Billet,
a little roadside public house, is dropped by
Patty Pottle (Miss Reynolds), her confidante and mes-
senger, and is picked up by zsir Richard, v` hose jealous
suspicions are aroused, though the note is without
signature, and he resolves to wait at The Crooked
Billet until the unknown writs!. appears. Patty, ter-
rified lest Lady Sumerford's secret should be disco-
vered, persuades Sir Richard that the place of meeting
has been changed from " The Crooked Billet" to
" The Greyhound," whither he hastens, after having
engaged Duck (Mr. Buckstone), the devoted lover of
Patty Pottle, to report to him faithfully everything
that happens during his absence at " The Crooked
Billet." Sir Richard is to give Duck a hundred
pounds for this service, and the latter resolves to per-
form it most accurately ; with this intention he con-
ceals himself in a linen chest, which Mrs. Pottle
(Mrs. Stanley) locks, and nearly stifles Duck,
who is at length obliged to call for help while the
Major and Lady Somerford are engaged in con-
versation. The lady escapes, and the major breaks
open the chest and drags out the half-smothered Duck.
who receives from Major Murray two hundred pounds
not to mention to Sir Richard anything he had heard
or seen while in the chest—a promise that he cannot
break, as he was totally unconscious of all that passed
in the room after the chest had been locked. Sir
Richard returns, and obtaining no information from
Duck, orders him to be seized and carried to gaol.
The same evening Major Murray, under an assumed
name, obtains by stratagem the situation of secretary
to Sir Richard, and is present on the following morn-
ing, when the prisoner Duck is brought up to be
examined by Sir Richard, who hopes still to wrest
the truth from him as to the meeting at The Crooked
Billet on the previous evening. There he recognises,
in the secretary, the person who had given him two
hundred guineas to say nothing, and he falls into the
mistake that the stranger had come to meet Patty,
privately. Mad with jealousy, he accuses him of the
crime to Sir Richard, who is, however, not so easily
led astray—a strict investigation takes plase, which
ends by Major Murray's identity being discovered,
and his life placed in the hands of his enemy. One way
of saving his life alone remains : if Lady Somer.!
ford will marry Sir Richard, or make ovir to him all
her. property, he consents to give her the pardon
which he holds. She hesitates ; and be, to show his
determination, places the pardon in the grate, and
with a lighted candle is prepared to set in a blaze it
she refuses. At this critical moment Duck, who had
climbed up the wide chimney, endeavouring to es-
cape, comes tumbling down, covered with soot ; he
seizes the royal pardon, gives it to Lady Somerford,
who gives to her lover life and a wife at the same
time. Buckstone's drolleries kept the house in
perpetual screams of laughter; his scene with Mur-
ray after he is dragged out of the chest, and his
jealous scene in the second act, were irresistibly
humorous. Miss Fortescue's Lady Somerford was
an easy and interesting personation, without being
very dramatically striking. Miss Reynolds played
with great vivacity in the part of pretty Patty Pot-
tle; she sang a song which was much applauded.
The other characters were very well sustained by.
Mr. Howe, Mr. Stuart, and Mrs. Stanley. The ap-
plause on the fall of the curtain was most enthusias-
tic ; and the piece was given out by Mr. Buckstone
for repetition every evening amidst reiterated plaudits.
The piece would, however, be much improved if the
first act were greatly curtailed.

LYCEUM THEATRE.
On Friday evening the very successful career of
this establishment, under the management of Mr. and
Mrs. Keeley, was brought to a premature close, in
consequence of the misunderstanding which had
arisen with Mr. Arnold, and with the particulars of
which misunderstanding our readers are already well
acquainted. It is unnecessary for us to observe more
of this final night of an unusually prosperous
theatrical managership than by saying that it was ap-
propriately the benefit-night of the two Keeleys, and
that the performances were Martin Chuzzlewit, Jenny
Lind, and the Bottle Imp. The entertainment was
vociferously and deservedly applauded throughout
and, at the conclusion, Mrs. Keeley stepped to the
footlights, and feelingly delivered the following
Farewell Address from the pen of Mr. Albert Smith
To night, dear friends, no lightly-worded string
Of jests and puns to raise your laugh I bring :
No promises of novelty in store
l'o please you, can I make, as heretofore.
I come but now to thank you for the past ;
Since here we meet for the last time—the last.
Yet as the soldier tired of war's alarms,
Loves to recount his-by-gone deeds of arms,
Fain would I name, before we part for good,
A few old friends who firmly by us stood ;
Since first Young Bailey came—the wilful scamp,
With that good woman, " which her name was Gamp."
Then, listening. to The Chimes, no wrongs could turn
The love of Meggy Veck from Lillian Fern,
Next, in the Cricket on tie Hearth's shrill sound
Poor Dot—" That's me again, John,"—comfort found.
And lastly, in ife'sßattle sorely tried,
Clemency Newcome rubbed her arms and cried.
Turn we from the great writer-of the age
To other gayer friends who trod this stage.
First, of the tribe burlesque upon our roll,
Forty fair Thieves your early favour stole.
Then young Aladdin brought before our lights
More gorgeous stores from the Arabian Nights.
Next bold Sir Valentine obtained your praise,
And savage Orson danced his truandaise.
Then, turn'd again by Bow bells' nursery air,
Little Dick Whittington became Lord Mayor;
And from the kitchen, where she long had pined,
Poor Cinderella felt your welcome kind.
What wondrous objects follo,secl in their course;
Prince Firouz Schah and his Enchanted Horse;
Bold Robin Hood, and dashing Little John,
The Magic Horn, and cup of Oberon,
The Enchanted Forest, and its strange live stock,
rill the Rood Dcemon cried, " Past one o'clock !"
It has been urged by critics most protound,
Our efforts might have taken higher ground:
That we threw o'er the grand for the grotesque,
And gave our chief attention to burlesque.
But if the topics of the day were hit
By pointed epigram or harmless wit;
Or Care's dull, gloomy visage was beguiled
Into a lighter train of thought, and smiled—
If you but felt, whilst laughing at our fun,
The sands of common life more brightly run,
Surely you will not " such small deer" abuse
For answering one grand object—to amuse.
Aid now, the saddest task is left. To all,
Who thus to -night, responded to our call,
With more deep feeling than mere words can tell,
Let mi, but speak that cruel one—Farewell!
One hope alone can rob it of its pain—
That, at some period, we may meet again!"
Mrs. Keeley retired with some emotion at the

warmth of the greeting from the audience, evinced in
continued plaudits and showers of bouquets. A voice
in the galleries enquired of Keeley " Where shall we
see you again ?" to which he replied " Somewhere and
soon, I hope." Those who will coincide in this
aspiration, we are sure, will be very numerous, and
very sincere. Mr. and Mrs. Keeley carry with them
the good will and kindly sympathies of the public,
on their temporary withdrawal behind the scenes.

PRINCESS'S THEATRE.--A new comic drama, under
the title of Ladies I Beware I was announced at this
theatre on Saturday evening, but in consequence of the
indisposition of Mrs Stirling, who was to have sustained
aprincipal part, its first representation was postponed.
The little farce of A Wife for an Hour was substituted
for the novelty, but it was not permitted to proceed
quietly without an explanation as to the cause of the
change. Mr. Walton was compelled to inform the
audience that that day at noon he had received a medical
certificate (which he read) from Dr. Hall, stating the
impossibility of Mrs. Stirling's appearance in the even-
ing. Notices, he added, had immeliately been posts din
all the avenues of the theatre; and what more, he asked,
could be done ? With this the audience appeared satis-
fied, and the substituted farce went on. But, for our
own part, we can say that we taw nothing in the shape
of a notice announcing the postponement of the new
piece until we had reached the interior of the house, and
had already paid our money, and on quitting tl.e theatre
a closer inspection did not t nable us to discover any in•
timation of the sort sat the entr ,nce or outside the doors.
The engagement of Mr. Macready at this theatre terms.
naatediamneexvt
~wstereis commencek,whenNlr
a .
series Charles
of
hoe
rwms a
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Madame
porcetvoiboeur. I
previous tottl'ilesisra litd.sst,h•east Mr.
hip of
Lawrencet he L v
Lceueinv-y-. catre, in
ciation for the Lyceum till Sep, etn b-r, when tihseinaillt•grau:
tii.ns and embellishments required will commence.—
Observer.
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ars , Seutliwark,wehanarded
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These invaluable pills aresold at ProfessorliellowaY'sgstabliatmeu
201 5440, Leads, 00 Iv all OOP ia;Paciaw.

QUESTIONS FOR CANDIDATES.
(From the Dispatch )
Mr. Editor,—We have an election in prospect more
completely devoid of purpose than any which has
occurred for many years. The " sense of the people"
[ is about to be taken, and nobody knows upon what sub-
ject. There is no appeal to the constituencies by any
party. In recent denotes, or pending measures, no
great antagonist principles have been brought into colli-
sion. Even the lower excitemwnt of party preponder-
ancy is wanting. Nobody expects tnat the result can
so strengthen Lord G. Bentinck's faction as to carry him
ii t ; and nobody, except that faction, cares about. keeping
out Sir Robert Peel. Eleeters will go to poll,
simply because it is the time. Pat liament approaches,
as nearly as is customary, to its natural period
of dissolution. No great harm would happen,
nor any particular good that I know of, from the
re-election of its Members in a lump. There will,
probably, be some changes ; but it is the toss of a half-
penny whether they be for the better or the worse.
Clouds and sunshine affect us far more, just now than
WhiAs and Tories. The aspect of a corn field is much
more important than that of a canvassing-
book. Foreign
grain is the question ; not foreign policy. This indif-
ference of the public mind noes nut stop the custom of
cross-examining our candidates. It often multiplies
questions in proportion as their importance is diminished.
Every conundrum of a clique, or crotchet of an indivi-
dual, has its chance. Instead of having to stand the dis.
charge of a cannon, whose ball strikes him deed if it hits
at all, the aspirant is peppered with perpetual small shot,
the largest of which is only some silly stuff about cen-
tralisation or Sunday schools. As to what will come •of
it all, safer were it to pretend to prophecy the winner of
next year's Derby.
And yet, under these unexciting and unpropitious
circumstances, the country's representatives and legis-
lators must be chosen ; and the power so c, nferred,
whether on the wise or the foolish, the knavish or the
honest, may continue for seven long years to come.
Surely, then, it is a fitting season for the mind of every
elector who feels the sacredness of his trust, to advert
to the general principles of Government and the perma-
nent wants of the people. If candidates do not know
what to say to us, we should know what to say to them.
'The compromises of parties, and the pettiness of per-
sonal pretension, should not sink into littleness the
powers of a great nation over the policy of its rulers.
If blue and yellow are only symbols of party or paltry
interests, electors should start questions indicative of
those which are great and national.
Amongst these may come foremost, " What do you
intend to do with the taxation of the country?" "To
put as much of it as we can into our own pockAs,"
would in many cases be the most honest answer that
could be given. But the language of such a reply would
not be Parliamentary. It is least likely to be made
when it is most likely to be meant. The subject will be
evaded, for the sake of future Chancellsrs of the Ex-
chequer. Perhaps the candidate will pledge himself to
vote fur the repeal of some local or class burden, by way
of a sop to his influential constituents. The interest of
the people requires a complete revision of our whole
system of taxation. The corn laws were only a single
item of abuse. They took from the consumers and the
indus!rious, to the advantage of the possessors of pro-
perty. In this, there was nothing peculiar. The Customs
and Excise do the same thing through the whole round
of their operations. Every article that we purchase
from another country is obviously the dearer for ea
import duty. Every articie of home production is the
dearer for the Excise. When we see returns of the
millions raised by duties on tea, sugar, tobacco, or soap,
there is often a misty n ,tion in people's minds that the
sugar. &c. pay so much to the Government. It is
reckoned a tax on articles, and not on persons. Non-
sense I It is the man who drinks tea, and sweetens it,
and smokes, and washes, that pays the money. He is
the paymaster, just the same as if the duty were levied
on the act. Suppose a policeman keeping the key of
the caddy, and d -mending pence for the spoonfuls be-
fore they go into the teapot. Or standing at the shaver's
elbow, and stopping the brush when it begins to twirl in
the soap dish, until the proportionate cash has legalised
the lather. It the plan were practicable, we would pay
less this way ; and the trade arising from importa-
tion would not be checked. In fact, we tax trade,
we tax cheap drinking, we tax cleanliness ;
and we leave comparatively untaxed the inheritance
of large revenues for which no service is ren-
dered to the State. Out-of fifty millions of annual tax-
ation property pays rather more than two; consumption
and industry pay the remaining forty-eight. That is to
say, they are paid by the masses. They are taken from
those who have only what they earn. The proprietary
of Great Britain contributes the merest trifle towards
the cost of protecting and governing Great Britain. All
taxation is essentially an insurance of the safety of pro-
perty, and that insurance is mainly paid by industry.
Folks are gull, d because the tax is paid indirectly. Their
hands are not actually put into their pockets for it at the
bidding of a collector. The trick is dune out of sight.
We do not see the machinery of Custom house leger-
demain. The cotton free traders have carried their
point, but the tea and sugar free traders, the snuff,
cigar, and French wine free traders, the soap-suds
free traders are left in the lurch. There will they re-
main till they bestir themselves. The election is an pp.
portunity. No man deserves a vote who is not for re-
moving the burden of taxation fr..m industry, and laying
it upon property
Education is also a topic of permanent concern, and
which reqaires to be pit On the broadest principle. The
sects are all making their market of it; and the esta-
blished sect in particular. The ashop of Exeter wants
to quarter the unemployed clergy on the school-house.
He would make it a refuge for the clerical destitute. If
there be not a spare parish for the priest, make him a
p.alagogue. Education grants may thus become a sort
of p,or-taw for the p,rsons. Those who have riot
talent enough for the pulpit, or not interest enough for
a living—" stickit Ministers," as such forlorn abortions
are called in Scotland—wPl c,rne upon the school for
relief. Let the Lord Harry of Exeter a'one for turning
a penny of public money. Ile thinks of the pence,
while Dissenting bigots think of the Papists. The Me-
thoe.ists who insist on a Protestant version of the Bible, are
not less perverters of National Education. There is practi-
cally an end of instruction for the masses, beyond drilling
into the catechisms of different creeds, unless we revert to
the ground originally taken by the Government, and of
late so pusillanimously abandoned—that of providing the
means of what is called secular education for all, and
leaving churches to supply tae theology. The difficulties
of this plan have passed away. Its adoption would not
cost the Whigs their places. Their taint hearts need not
palpitate. Dr. Hook cleared the way for them. All
sects and parties would have acquiesced ; they will still
acquiesce, if the plan is revived with a determined pur-
pose. Those electors who really care for national edu-
cation may exert themselves with decisive elf,,ct. Let
them disregard the petty exclusions or appropriations at
which sects are aiming. LA them go direct to the sup-
ply of the great popular want. Let them ask, " Are
yeti, or are you nut, for securing to all the means of in.
structton, leaving theology to the voluntary supply of
those concerned ?"
The p ,or-law should not be forgotten ; especially that
very much neglected part of the sulsject, the burden of
the rates upon the poor. Au objection is often made to
dealing kindiy awl liberally wan paupers, that the ex-
pense pauperises the rate-pa) era, wh t are struggling
Hard for their own subsist. rice. The fact is certain ; but
the i7iference that the paupers should, therefore, be
squeez.d and stinted, is most fallacious. There is
another way of ceasing to ptuperite the struggling poor
by the pressure of poor-rates. That other way
is, not to exact pour-rates at all from the
poor. The theory of the income tax is, that every
man should be exonerated from paying, in that
form, to the State, who has less than 150/. a year.
Yet, how many are assessed for public charity wbo earn
less tt an the half of that amount. The goods of the
starving are seized for the expenses of a starvation law.
The faces of the poor are ground to pay for the grind-
stone. The State is niggardly charitable to the entirely
paupers, out of the pittances of semi and three-quarter
paupers. And this system is intended to last. 'the
Pour-law Reformers expend their fury on the Com-
missioners. The Ministry will cast Jonas overboard to
still the storm. And the paying poor, and the destitute
poor, are left, if they like, to go to the dogs, or the
devil together.
Time and space allowing, there are three other topics
which I would enlarge upon. as well deserving legis-
lative attention, during the next septennial period of
Parliamentary existence. The Healths of Towns Bill is
a failure unless the cliques and jobbers of vestries and
corporations are checked, as they would at once be
checked, by popular demonstration. At present, the
production of fever is amongst the privileges of house
property. There is a trade in t} phus. Masses of human
beings are so lodged that they might envy the beasts in
the Zoological Gardens. The interested juntas exert
their influence. Are there no voters that have a voice
for the people ? Again, the assertion of religious
liberty and equality is an enduring principle. Instead
of picking out Maynooth grants, and such small fry,
for protesting, why not exact a declaration against any
partiality whatever, by the State, for any creed what-
ever ? And last, though certainly not least, every
voter who is generous or just, will bear in mind that he
is one of the possessors of an involuntary monopoly ; he
belongs to a politically privileged class ; and the great
majority, six to one, of his fellow-countrymen, belong
to a slave-class.
If electors ask no questions, candidates will make no
promises. It is true, indeed, that hustings' promises
are commonly classed with lovers' vows. But if we
cannot secure integrity, the next best thing is, to expose
inconsistency. The ready tools of a Ministry or party
may be despoiled of the plea that the people are indif-
ferent. We may be true to ourselves, in this, our rarely
recurring opportunity. And questions of principle,
calmly and firmly put, may prove the more impressive
Irons the absence of party excitement. It would do
legislators a world of good to make them feel that they
are under some degree of responsibility to an intelligent
LIBLICOLA. and determined people.

ADDISCOMBE.—The half-yearly public examination
s
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of the gentlemen cadets educated at the East letninieiliiaelint-. ;;o,hect nakowif
pany's Military Seminary took place on Friday, in the pre-.
n
sense of the Chairman, henry St. George Tucker, E,q. 1 the
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The -Bulldog steamer in the Tagus had been
ordered to be got ready to come to England with further
dispatches relating to the disposal of the prisoners, &,, and
may be daily expected. The Polyphemus has been ordered
by telegraph to coal, and be got ready for immediate service,
and will probably have to return to Lisbon this eventing on,
Commander PdVieverty's return from London.

THOMAS GRAY AND THE RAIL-
WAY SYSTEM ;
AN UNRECORDED CHAPTER lii THE HISTORY OP
INvENTIoNS.
(From the London Journal.)
"An Unrecorded Chapter in the History of Inven-
tions !" We think we hear some cautious reader ex-
claim, "An unrecorded chap: er in the history of the
Railway ! Poeh 1 pooh 1 More mysteries from the
fertile brains of French leuilletoniste romancists. The
railway is an open question to everybody—everybody
knows every thing about it. Stay, good reader, before
we proceed to the elucidation of the mystery ;—let us
have a friendly catechetical chit-chat with you, to test
the extent of your knowledge of the history of one of the
greatest mechanical inventions of any time or country.
Have you ever, when borne along on the wind-like
speed—the time and space annihilating career of the
railway locomotive—carried your thoughts from the
wondrous realities of the moment to the time when your
respectable grandfather made his will ere he departed on
a two hundred mile journey ? Have you ever, when
contemplating the omnipresent results—political, social,
and moral—which this simple instrument of constructive
genius is hourly effecting—impulsing commerce with
giant power—cementing nations in the firmest bonds of
brotherhood, and rearing up and fostering, by the means
of intercommunication between province and province
and town and town of this empire, the best and the
closest ties of union, because founded on mutualin-
terest and the general good—have you ever
Ia thought ocahf
the origin of that simple contriveuce
you tell us, as the facetious Sam Slick would say,
" When was the railway invented, and who designed it,
at a word?"
Till you can answer these plain questions, and, with-
outd any offence to our hundred thousand reaers . we
suspect ninety-nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-
nine of them will feel rather puzzled, we must e'en set
you down as too much dazzled with the wondrous
powers of the great invention of this age, to enter into
an inquiry, which, by the inquiring minds of other cen-
turies, will inevitably be regarded as second only in im•
portance and interest to the discoveries of printing and
the steam-engine.
The principle of the railway, as a mechanical means
of transport, has been known for nearly two centuries.
It is apparently so very simple that, were we not all
aware that the simplist principles have lain longest un-
discovered, we might express surprise that it
should not have been tried earlier than in the
year 1680, which is the remotest date known in
connexion with the history of railways. It
first took the shape of a rude wooden tram-
way, and the first known experiment was made at coal
mines near Newcastle-upon-Tyne, in 1680, for trans-
porting coals trom the mouths of the pits to the ships in
the Tyne. Coal at that time was becoming the substi-
tute of wood, us the fuel of the metropolis, and a great
impulse was constantly given to the mining operations
of the North. Many of these pits are said to have em-
ployed each of them 400 or 500 carts in this traffic ; it
became, therefore, an object of manifest importance to
reduce the great expense thereby incurred in keeping up
horses, drivers, and reads. A wooden tramway was
therefore substituted, constructed on the following
plan :—SI pa of ground of the required breadth were
marked out between the coal pits and the river. To
obtain the easiest and meet regular descent, this line was
varied in its direction, to m et the inequalities of the
ground ; or where these inequalities were inconsiderable
It was carried straight forward, and regular slopes made
by embankments and cuttings. Tne ground being then
smoothed end levelled as for an ordinary road, large logs or
"sleepers," cut in lengths equal to the breadth of the
road, were laid across and firmly bedded into it at short
distances to sustain and hold last the rails or slips of
wood in which the waggon wheels were intended to run.
The rails were laid on beech, laid end to end, forming
two continuous parallel lines along each side of the road.
Waggons of large construction, set upon low wheels,
completed the " plant" of the first railway ever con-
atructed. The invention became popular and was largely
adopted in the coal districts. The result was a saving
of at least two-thirds of the horse power formerly re-
quired, and the working expenses of many large coal
establishments were thus very largely diminished. Tim-
ber continued to form the materiel of the tramways for
Upwards of half a century, till 1738, when cast-iron rails
were tried at the Whitehaven collieries, but no great
success attended the attempt for thirty years, owing to
the injurious effect of the weight of the waggons on
the rails. In 1768 this was in a considerable degree
obviated by the simple contrivance of a more general
diffusion of the weight over the rails, by lessening
the size of the waggons. Having thus answered
the purpose, the invention attracted attention, and
during the next sixty years there was a rapid application
of the principle throughout
mineral the
nerel
adkingdom, chiefly,
however, as auxiliary to
occa-
sionally in branches to canals. Manyve adventure,
themand
roherieo were
formed in the mining districts of Northumberland,
Lan-
cashire, Yorkshire, StafforOshire, Shropshire, and South
Wales ; and in Scotland, in Lanarkshire, Mid Lothian,
and Fife, Partington estimates the extent of these tram-
ways in the neighbourhood of Newcastle alone at se•
venty-five miles.
Such was the origin and early condition of the rail-
road. We must now shortly speak of the motive power
employed on these rude tramways. Till within half a
century of the present time animal power was solely
employed to move the waggons along the rails, but
about the beginning of this century a great step was
made towards the progress of railwayiem in the inven-
tion of the railway locomotive engine. An experimen-
tal attempt was made in France, about the year 1728,
iu the Royal Arsenal at Paris ; no practical result, how.
ever, followed till 1802, w hen Messrs Trevethick and
Vivian took out a patent in this country for propelling
carriages upon railroads. We find the following de-
scription of the machine in Partinuton's Cyclopedia,
" The boiler was composed of cast iron of a cylin-
drical form, this was mounted horizontally upon four
wheels, the cylinder of the engine being placed ver-
tically on the end. Two connecting rode descending
frog% the cross bur of the piston were then made to com-
municate motion to the wheels by means of a crank, no
wheel beine, necessary, the momentum of the carriage
carrying the cranks past the lines of the centre." When
these engines were first tried it was found difficult to
produce a sufficient degree or re-action between the
wheels and V.e track road, so that the former turned
roue wirneut advancing the vehicle. This was reme-
died by Mr. 13Ieitkiiisop, of Middleton, West York' hire,
who, when he adopted the invention at his colleries,
took up the common rails on one side of the whole
length of the road, and replaced them with rails which
bad large and coarse cogs projecting from the out-
side. The impelling wheel of the engine was made
to act in these teeth, so that it contieued to work in
a rack the whole length of the road. An engine
of four-horse power, employed by Mr. 131, nkinsop,
impelled a carriage lightly loaded at the rate of ten
miles an hour, end when connected with thirty coal
waggons, each waggon Iv, ighing more than three tons, it
went at about one-third of that pace. Mr. Blenkinsop
took out a patent which is cia,ed in 1811. It must be
borne in mind that this invention was entirely confined
to the mineral districts and to the conveyance of mineral
produce. The public knew little if anything of the
railwa), and any man who forty years ago was bold
enough to whisper that it might be made to supply the
defects of the common road ay stem was written down an
inc'irable madman, as poor Thomas Gray was several
years later. But this is nothing very new in the history
of i'-nproremer.t.
We have now reached the period of our history when
we are to note the beginning of the vast railway
system which has sprung up and is daily extending
around us.
lo 1315, that memorable year in the history of the
world, and most important epoch in the advance of our
commerce, Mr. Thomas Gray, a man of large compre-
hensive mind, gifted with a remarkable fore-thought,
and with a deep earnestness of character and indomit-
able perseverance, chanced to revisit his native town of
Leeds. He was drawn by curiosity to insrect Blenhin-
sop's steam carriage railway at Middleton colliery, which
is situated in the immediate neighbourhood of Leeds.
After a careful inspection of this railway he was inocu-
lated with intense admiration of the system, and con-
vinced of its applicability to the purpo.es of general
intercommunication. The same year Mr. Gray repaired,
or, we believe, returned to Brussels, his mind big with
the conception of his railway-imaginings.
An interesting event in enterprise opportunely oc-
curred to create new thoughts, and to shape and syste-
matise these crude imaginings. The King of the
Netherlands, about that time, proposed the construc-
tion of a canal from Charleroi, for the conveyance
of coal from that rich mineral di-trict to Holland ;
and a scheme of such magnitude and commercial
importance naturally excited lively interest in
RD enterprising and industrious community, more espe-
cially amongst our own countrymen resident there. It
roused the active mind of Mr. Gray, who not only
ardently espoused the project, but with a boldness that
excited the amazement of his compatriots, he urged the
construction of a railway, and set about in his own quiet
but earnest way to demonstrate the practicability and
vast superiority of such a mode of communication. The
idea was far in advance of the age ; and its bold pro-
paincler was set down as an ardent impracticable
theorist. Bur the theorist was determined to show the
world that his theory was one of the most practical and
!sae attainment ; so he e'en sat himself down to think a
little inure Inure oa the subjezt, and shape his thoughts to a
tangible form. We hear nothi' g more of Mr.
Gr for ,warlythree years. But he slumbered riot in
Li she interval. 1818 he completed and placed the
manu-criet 01 a treatise in the hands of Mr. Wilson, an
eminent Briti h merchant I manufacturer in B.lginru,
who has publish. d a very interestingk pampteet on the
subject. This preduction was
en a Railroad for the whole of Euopeieaded " Ous. rvations
.The largeness
of his vit ws was only exceeded hyr by wthhi•
cah hlemsarvumenta-
in tehte forth the
necessity
tire and exact demonstratem
which existed for a rererni
internal and international communication, to meetm mode of
leulands of a repidly expsn ing commerce, and the
ability of his plan to meet those demsreie. In 1820,
the work, considerably modified and improved, ..,„„
published under the title of " Observations on a general
tron railway, or land steam conveyance to supersede. the
neces,ity of horses in all public vehicles_.. Mr. Gray
therein proposed a system of direct trunk lines radiating
from the meteepelis to the principal seats of trade and
.loremerce, with branches fur the accoaimodation of
plates of minor importance—London to be the central
point for Great Britain. and Dublin for Ireland. For
the principal trunk lines he pre posed a series of six
dorallel railways, one half for the up, the other for
wn trains ; on the branch lines from two to
tour as the nature of the traffic might demand. The
principle of the cog rail, which we have seen,
Was introduced by Mr. Blenkinsop, in the early stage
of the history of locomotives, forms a part of Mr.
Gray's system, with this difference, that it is added j
is a third rail placed in the middle of the track to
V
power to the p-rrnan..nt action of the
I uniform
azi. engine. He 'voided &Li ingenious machinery