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2, not only the opposition which the stupendous operations of nature present, but the more stubborn and unbending resistance of haughty and interested minds—are far more worthy of the laurel crown than the victor of a hundred fights. The one confers on his country honour and prosperity—crime, devastation, woe, wailing, and death attend the career of the other; which, at the best, ends in the attainment of but equivocal benefits.

In 1823 the project of the Liverpool and Manchester Railroad suggested to some gentlemen in Birmingham the idea of a Railroad to connect Lancashire and the north with the south of England. To effect this object. Mr. R. Spooner. Mr. Sparrow, and Mr. Foster came over to Liverpool, and, when there, arranged a Committee of Liverpool and Birmingham gentlemen to carry forward the project; and in 1824 an application was made to Parliament for permission to make a Railroad from the Cheshire side of the Mersey, opposite Liverpool, to Birmingham.

This Bill was most violently opposed by the canal and landed interest, and was lost on standing orders in the House of Commons. In 1826 another application was made, which shared the same fate.