Page:Great Men and Famous Women Volume 6.djvu/126

 292 WORKMEN AND HEROES

lington line was not yet in operation, but the old locomotives were at work at Killingworth. The committee decided that they must have a double track for cars, whatever might be the motive power. Accordingly Stephenson was invited to make surveys and estimates, as he was said to be a man of great energy and the only man in England with the necessary experience. The surveys were made in 1825 with the greatest difficulty, on account of the opposition of landowners. The surveyors were ordered off the grounds, threat- ened with arrest and violence. Stephenson testified before a Parliamentary Com- mittee that the duke's manager threatened to have him thrown into the mill-pond if he trespassed. Stephenson kept on as good terms as he could with the hos- tiles, and surveyed their grounds by stealth. The chief points of difficulty were a tunnel at Liverpool, and a vast and treacherous morass known as " Chat Moss." Early in 1825, before the Darlington road was opened, Parliament was con- sidering the railway bill and Stephenson was called before the committee as a most important witness. All the opposition was out in force and every means was used to ridicule the undertaking and defeat the bill. The spectacle presented by plain, blunt, unlettered George Stephenson before the lawyers and members of the House of Commons was strange and interesting, and no wonder it has become historical. In the cross-examination, every effort was made to confuse and discredit the witness, but he bore himself remarkably well. He had built or superintended half a dozen short railways, and had constructed sixteen locomotives, and he could speak on the details of his plans with certainty and confidence. Two things embarrassed him; the consciousness of awkwardness of manner and speech among men some of whom were inclined to sneer at his northern dialect and lack of polish ; secondly, the necessity of restraining himself in stating what his loco- motives could do. He fully believed they could draw long trains at the speed of twenty miles, but he was told by the friends of the bill that if he made that claim before the committee, he would be called a madman, and the bill would be killed ; accordingly he promised to hold himself down to ten miles per hour. The evidence brought in against the bill was remarkable, and to-day it sounds strange enough. It was urged that the rails would bend under the loco- motive at high speed ; that the engine would run off the track on curves ; that if the engine got round the curves the cars would go off ; that the driving-wheels would " spin," if they went fast, without drawing the train ; that the noise and sight of the train would frighten horses and cattle ; that hens would not lay and cows would cease to give milk along by the road ; that the smoke would poison the air and blast the fields and parks ; that the coach lines would be ruined, horses would no longer be of value, and coach-makers, harness-makers, inn- keepers and others along the great roads would have nothing to do, etc., etc. In the face of ignorance, ridicule, contempt, and self-interest, Stephenson firmly maintained the safety of a good road, the stability of his engines and cars, the