Re: "Britain's most hated civil servant"

On 1 Oct, 21:38, Stephen Furley <fur...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

She wrote more than that, but I can't find the rest at the moment.

I've found the rest of it; the full text is here:

http://infomotions.com/etexts/gutenberg/dirs/1/6/4/7/16478/16478.htm

But this is most of what she wrote about the railway:

¨ A common *** of paper is enough for love, but a foolscap extra
can alone contain a railroad and my ecstasies. There was once a
man, who was born at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, who was a common
coal-digger; this man had an immense constructiveness, which
displayed itself in pulling his watch to pieces and putting it
together again; in making a pair of shoes when he happened to be
some days without occupation; finally--here there is a great gap
in
my story--it brought him in the capacity of an engineer before a
committee of the House of Commons, with his head full of plans
for
constructing a railroad from Liverpool to Manchester. It so
happened that to the quickest and most powerful perceptions and
conceptions, to the most indefatigable industry and perseverance,
and the most accurate knowledge of the phenomena of nature as
they
affect his peculiar labors, this man joined an utter want of the
"gift of the gab;" he could no more explain to others what he
meant
to do and how he meant to do it, than he could fly; and therefore
the members of the House of Commons, after saying, "There is rock
to be excavated to a depth of more than sixty feet, there are
embankments to be made nearly to the same height, there is a
swamp
of five miles in length to be traversed, in which if you drop an
iron rod it sinks and disappears: how will you do all this?" and
receiving no answer but a broad Northumbrian "I can't tell you
how
I'll do it, but I can tell you I _will_ do it," dismissed
Stephenson as a visionary. Having prevailed upon a company of
Liverpool gentlemen to be less incredulous, and having raised
funds
for his great undertaking, in December of 1826 the first spade
was
struck into the ground. And now I will give you an account of my
yesterday's excursion. A party of sixteen persons was ushered,
into
a large court-yard, where, under cover, stood several carriages
of
a peculiar construction, one of which was prepared for our
reception. It was a long-bodied vehicle with seats placed across
it, back to back; the one we were in had six of these benches,
and
was a sort of uncovered _char a banc_. The wheels were placed
upon
two iron bands, which formed the road, and to which they are
fitted, being so constructed as to slide along without any danger
of hitching or becoming displaced, on the same principle as a
thing
sliding on a concave groove. The carriage was set in motion by a
mere push, and, having received, this impetus, rolled with us
down
an inclined plane into a tunnel, which forms the entrance to the
railroad. This tunnel is four hundred yards long (I believe), and
will be lighted by gas. At the end of it we emerged from
darkness,
and, the ground becoming level, we stopped. There is another
tunnel
parallel with this, only much wider and longer, for it extends
from
the place which we had now reached, and where the steam-carriages
start, and which is quite out of Liverpool, the whole way under
the
town, to the docks. This tunnel is for wagons and other heavy
carriages; and as the engines which are to draw the trains along
the railroad do not enter these tunnels, there is a large
building
at this entrance which is to be inhabited by steam-engines of a
stationary turn of mind, and different constitution from the
traveling ones, which are to propel the trains through the
tunnels
to the terminus in the town, without going out of their houses
themselves. The length of the tunnel parallel to the one we
passed
through is (I believe) two thousand two hundred yards. I wonder
if
you are understanding one word I am saying all this while! We
were
introduced to the little engine which was to drag us along the
rails. She (for they make these curious little fire-horses all
mares) consisted of a boiler, a stove, a small platform, a bench,
and behind the bench a barrel containing enough water to prevent
her being thirsty for fifteen miles,--the whole machine not
bigger
than a common fire-engine. She goes upon two wheels, which are
her
feet, and are moved by bright steel legs called pistons; these
are
propelled by steam, and in proportion as more steam is applied to
the upper extremities (the hip-joints, I suppose) of these
pistons,
the faster they move the wheels; and when it is desirable to
diminish the speed, the steam, which unless suffered to escape
would burst the boiler, evaporates through a safety-valve into
the
air. The reins, bit, and bridle of this wonderful beast is a
small
steel handle, which applies or withdraws the steam from its legs
or
pistons, so that a child might manage it. The coals, which are
its
oats, were under the bench, and there was a small glass tube
affixed to the boiler, with water in it, which indicates by its
fullness or emptiness when the creature wants water, which is
immediately conveyed to it from its reservoirs. There is a
chimney
to the stove, but as they burn coke there is none of the dreadful
black smoke which accompanies the progress of a steam vessel.
This
snorting little animal, which I felt rather inclined to pat, was
then harnessed to our carriage, and, Mr. Stephenson having taken
me
on the bench of the engine with him, we started at about ten
miles
an hour. The steam-horse being ill adapted for going up and down
hill, the road was kept at a certain level, and appeared
sometimes
to sink below the surface of the earth, and sometimes to rise
above
it. Almost at starting it was cut through the solid rock, which
formed a wall on either side of it, about sixty feet high. You
can't imagine how strange it seemed to be journeying on thus,
without any visible cause of progress other than the magical
machine, with its flying white breath and rhythmical, unvarying
pace, between these rocky walls, which are already clothed with
moss and ferns and grasses; and when I reflected that these great
masses of stone had been cut asunder to allow our passage thus
far
below the surface of the earth, I felt as if no fairy tale was
ever
half so wonderful as what I saw. Bridges were thrown from side to
side across the top of these cliffs, and the people looking down
upon us from them seemed like pigmies standing in the sky. I must
be more concise, though, or I shall want room. We were to go only
fifteen miles, that distance being sufficient to show the speed
of
the engine, and to take us on to the most beautiful and wonderful
object on the road. After proceeding through this rocky defile,
we
presently found ourselves raised upon embankments ten or twelve
feet high; we then came to a moss, or swamp, of considerable
extent, on which no human foot could tread without sinking, and
yet
it bore the road which bore us. This had been the great
stumbling-block in the minds of the committee of the House of
Commons; but Mr. Stephenson has succeeded in overcoming it. A
foundation of hurdles, or, as he called it, basket-work, was
thrown
over the morass, and the interstices were filled with moss and
other elastic matter. Upon this the clay and soil were laid down,
and the road does float, for we passed over it at the rate of
five
and twenty miles an hour, and saw the stagnant swamp water
trembling on the surface of the soil on either side of us. I hope
you understand me. The embankment had gradually been rising
higher
and higher, and in one place, where the soil was not settled
enough
to form banks, Stephenson had constructed artificial ones of
wood-work, over which the mounds of earth were heaped, for he
said
that though the wood-work would rot, before it did so the banks
of
earth which covered it would have been sufficiently consolidated
to
support the road.

We had now come fifteen miles, and stopped where the road
traversed
a wide and deep valley. Stephenson made me alight and led me down
to the bottom of this ravine, over which, in order to keep his
road
level, he has thrown a magnificent viaduct of nine arches, the
middle one of which is seventy feet high, through which we saw
the
whole of this beautiful little valley. It was lovely and
wonderful
beyond all words. He here told me many curious things respecting
this ravine: how he believed the Mersey had once rolled through
it;
how the soil had proved so unfavorable for the foundation of his
bridge that it was built upon piles, which had been driven into
the
earth to an enormous depth; how, while digging for a foundation,
he
had come to a tree bedded in the earth fourteen feet below the
surface of the ground; how tides are caused, and how another
flood
might be caused; all of which I have remembered and noted down at
much greater length than I can enter upon it here. He explained
to
me the whole construction of the steam-engine, and said he could
soon make a famous engineer of me, which, considering the
wonderful
things he has achieved, I dare not say is impossible. His way of
explaining himself is peculiar, but very striking, and I
understood, without difficulty, all that he said to me. We then
rejoined the rest of the party, and the engine having received
its
supply of water, the carriage was placed behind it, for it cannot
turn, and was set off at its utmost speed, thirty-five miles an
hour, swifter than a bird flies (for they tried the experiment
with
a snipe). You cannot conceive what that sensation of cutting the
air was; the motion is as smooth as possible, too. I could either
have read or written; and as it was, I stood up, and with my
bonnet
off "drank the air before me." The wind, which was strong, or
perhaps the force of our own thrusting against it, absolutely
weighed my eyelids down. [I remember a similar experience to
this,
the first time I attempted to go behind the *** of the cataract
of Niagara; the wind coming from beneath the waterfall met me
with
such direct force that it literally bore down my eyelids, and I
had
to put off the attempt of penetrating behind the curtain of foam
till another day, when that peculiar accident; was less directly
hostile to me in its conditions.] When I closed my eyes this
sensation of flying was quite delightful, and strange beyond
description; yet, strange as it was, I had a perfect sense of
security, and not the slightest fear. At one time, to exhibit the
power of the engine, having met another steam-carriage which was
unsupplied with water, Mr. Stephenson caused it to be fastened in
front of ours; moreover, a wagon laden with timber was also
chained
to us, and thus propelling the idle steam-engine, and dragging
the
loaded wagon which was beside it, and our own carriage full of
people behind, this brave little she-dragon of ours flew on.
Farther on she met three carts, which, being fastened in front of
her, she pushed on before her without the slightest delay or
difficulty; when I add that this pretty little creature can run
with equal facility either backward or forward, I believe I have
given you an account of all her capacities.¨
.