The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1859-07-08

thSASu various attempts were made between 1900
and 1875 to substitute the steam locomotive, all
of them were PRACTICAL failures, until STEPHEN
son first discovered the Importance of turning the
steam-bast into the chimney, which 'imparted
velocity TO the smoke and so increased the ascend
ling current of air that the power of the engine
'became more than doubled" But even then
the speed of the locomotive did not exceed six
miles an hour. The first public railway that was
projected was the Stockton and Darlington line,
which, notwithstanding the fact that STEPHEN
sons locomotives were doing good, but COM
parativey slow work at the collieries, was de-
signed to be worked by horses. Finally, however,
1t was resolved to test the powers of the locomo-
tive, and when the line was opened in the autumn
of 1925, the success of STEPHENsoNs invention
was defnitively established-the engine used on
that day, though greatly modified and improved
subsequently, being essentially the type of the
present locomotive A project for a railway be-
tween Liverpool and Manchester, previously con-
templated, was now actively pushed forward; but
all at once the opposition of the large landed pro-
prielors evinced itself. The Duke of BRDGEwATER,
who derived a princely income from the canal
which bears his name strenuously opposed the
scheme. AT Knowsley, the seat of Lord DERBY,
STEPHENSON was driven off the grounds by the
keepers, and Threatened with rough handling if
che ever appeared there again. Lord SEFToN's
''reainers prevented the surveyors from entering
the grounds of their employer Many of the surveys
had to be taken by stealth. Guns were fired at the
chain bearers. ''Twice STEPHENSON was turned off
'the lordshp of Bradshac,n and when the bill for
the Railway was brought before Parliament the
most ridiculous objections imaginable made
to its passage in the House of Commons, while,
in the House of Peers it was still more vehement
ly opposed. 1t was declared that the working of
the railway "would prevent cows from grazing
'and hens from laying The poisoned air from
"the locomotives would kill birds as they flew
'over them, and render the preservation of pleas
''ants and foxes-said the sportsmen-no longer
possible. Householders along the projected line
''were told that their houses would be burnt up
f'by the fire thrown from the engine chimney;
'whle the air around would be polluted by clouds
''of smoke. The breed of horses would be extin-
''guished hay and oats would be unsaeable; coun-
'ry Inns would be ruined stage coachmen
''would sarve, while pernicious boilers were burst
ling and blowing the old stage-coach passengers
'to atoms" 1t was no wonder that, by the COM
bned efforts of the alarmists, the preamble 10 the
bill was only carried by majority of one vote,
and that call the material clauses were thrown
'out subsequently," At the next session Of. Par
lament however, a charter was obtained
the Directors having, in the meantime, sue
ceeded in "conciliating" the landed interests
this delicate phrase covering the more substantial
fact that the opposition of the latter had been
bought off by paying them, as in the case of the
London and Birmingham Railway, three millions
seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars for land
which was previously estimated to be worth only
one million two hundred and fifty thousand dol
lars. On the trial trip of STEPHENsoNs new en-
CINE, the Rocket, at the opening of the LIVERPOOL
and Manchester Railway in 1890, a speed of tweu-
ty-niGe miles an hour was attained and when the
London and Birmingham Railway went into oper-
alton in 1888, its immense receipts, from passen-
ger traffic alone, not only slenced all future oppo
sitlon TO the construction of other lines but crea
ted mania for Railways that in the course of
few years beggared nearly all who had pur-
chased shares in them. We have mentioned
already the fact that the first passenger
Railway ever constructed-the Stockton and
Darlington-went into operation on the 9th of
September, 1925, and it is noticeable crcum-
stance, that lis most prominent advocate and sup
porter was EDWARD PEAsE, a member of the So
ciety of Friends. But little more than six months
after, another intelligent Quaker merchant PHILIP
h. THOMAS, of this city, in concert with GEORGE
Brown and others, started the project
of the railway from Baltimore to the Ohio
river. On the oath of April, 1927. company
was duly organised for that purpose, and engi-
neers were appointed TO make the necessary sur
veys, and on the 4th of July 1928, the construc-
ton of the road was commenced This was more
than two years previous to the completion of the
second English railway-the Liverpool and Man
chester-and before STEPHENSON had brought his
locomotive to the perfection it subsequently at
tanned in the Rocket. These, then, were the begin
nings of the railway system in England and the
UNITED STATES. Since that time there have been
built and put into operation in various parts
OF the world upwards of forty thousand miles of
railway, more than twenty thousand of which are |
within the limits of the UNITED STATES The re-
suit OF this magnificent system of internal
improvement has been to utterly falsify the
predictions of the alarmists, for while it
has completely revoutionzed the old mode of |
transporting goods and passengers it has added
intellectually to the value of landed estates, has
built up new commercial centres, of which Chicago
and Cincinnati are striking illustrations; has
brought remote places nearer to the best markets:
has proved less destructive to life and limb taking
the increased number of passengers into considera-
ton, than the old sage-coach has economised
time, and ensured regularity in the delivery of
freights and passengers at any given point. These
are but part of the wonders which the railway !
and the locomotive have accomplished within
thlrty-eight years, and as yet the system has not
fully reached the perfection of which it is capable.
What further marvels science will develope in the
future who can tell?