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prate about the superiority of practical men over scientific men, being themselves neither the one nor the other.'

In his comments on M. Boussingault's proceedings, however, the London Secretary caused as much amusement as anger. In his report, the French savant had mentioned the advisability of using chiens' in the mines. On this information, the Secretary condemned in the strongest terms the cruelty of employing dogs as beasts of burden. In his next homeward despatch Robert Stephenson took an opportunity to inform the zealous protector of the canine race that the word chien in French, and Hund in German, was a mining term, signifying a kind of carriage with four wheels, which was not known in England by the name of dog, but by tram; and that in the north of England a somewhat similar sort of carriage was known as a rolley.

CHAPTER VII.

FROM SOUTH AMERICA TO NEWCASTLE.

(ÆTAT. 23-24.)

Goes up

to Carthagena

Leaves Santa Ana Encounters Trevithick Trevithick's Peculiarities-Sails for New York-Becalmed amongst the Islands - Terrible Gales in the open Sea Two Wrecks-Cannibalism-Shipwrecked off New York-Strange Conduct of a Mate-Is made a Master Mason-Pedestrian Excursion to Montreal - Remarkable Conversation on the Banks of the St. Lawrence-Returns to New York-Arrives at Liverpool - Meeting with his Father- -Goes up to London and sees the Directors of the Colombian Mining Association-Trip to Brussels - Return to Newcastle - Liverpool.

OBERT STEPHENSON was aware that his prolonged

•ROBE

sojourn in America was highly prejudicial to his interests. Mr. Longridge, who during his absence had undertaken the active management of the affairs of Robert Stephenson and Co. of Newcastle,' wrote urgent entreaties for his return home. His heart told him how much his father needed him. He knew, too, that all his most influential friends- Mr. Richardson, Mr. Pease, and other capitalists to whom he looked for countenancewere of opinion that he might with propriety consult his own advantage, in deciding whether he should quit, or keep at his post. His word, however, was given; and he kept it.

At length the time came when he could honourably start homewards: and as he looked back on the previous

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three years he was not altogether dissatisfied with their results. From December 30, 1824, to December 31, 1827, the entire expenditure of the Colombian Mining Association had been little short of £200,000. A large portion of this sum had been wasted by maladministration in London, but the great operations carried on with the remainder had been directed by him a mere boy between twenty-one and twenty-four years of age. And in everything for which he individually could be held accountable the expedition had been successful. Had he worked the mines, as the Spaniards worked them, with the cheap labour of slaves, they would have yielded him as much profit as preceding engineers had extracted from them. As it was, on bidding official farewell to the directors, he was in a position to tell them that their property, under economical management and with the agency of proper machinery, could be made to pay them a handsome, though not an enormous, dividend.

In the July of 1827, Robert Stephenson wrote his last South American letter to Mr. Longridge.

July 16, 1827.

MY DEAR SIR,- The period of my departure from this place has at last really and truly arrived, though not longer than a month or two ago I was despairing of being able to get away without incurring the displeasure of the Board of Directors, as they wrote to the principal agent at Bogota, expressing an earnest wish that I would remain in St. Ana, notwithstanding my agreement having terminated, until the arrival of a new superintendent, whom they say they found great difficulty in procuring. Just about the same time I received a letter from Mr. Richardson, in which he states that the factory was far from being in a good condition, and that unless I returned promptly to England it would not improbably be abandoned. He further stated that the Board had not met with a person to

succeed me; but notwithstanding this, he supposed I would leave at the expiration of my agreement. This induced me immediately to advise the agents in Bogota of my intention to leave with all convenient despatch, and of my hope that they would make such arrangements as might seem most expedient to them, respecting the filling up my situation. In answer to my letter, they determined upon coming down from Bogota to St. Ana, and attending the establishment themselves up to the arrival of another person from England. In pursuance of this resolution, Mr. Illingworth is now in this place, and it is my intention to leave on the 24th or 25th of the present month. By the 30th I shall have procured a boat at Honda for my passage to the coast. At present it is my intention to proceed direct to Carthagena, and I still have an itching to visit the Isthmus of Panama, so that I may know something about the possibility, or impossibility of forming a communication between the two seas; though the very short time that I can stay there will evidently prevent me getting more than a very general idea of such a scheme. From the information I have gathered from one or two gentlemen who have visited that coast, it would appear most judicious to proceed from Carthagena to Chagres by sea, and from the latter place to pass by the main road to Panama, on the Pacific-these being the situations between which a communication is most likely to be effected. It is extraordinary that the recent proposals which were made by British capitalists for undertaking this scheme to the Colombian Government did not excite more interest. When they were brought before Congress, they scarcely elicited a consideration; at least nothing was said, or done which the importance of the subject demanded. Some individuals of power connected with the Government were weak enough to imagine that a free communication between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans would be productive of serious inconvenience to Colombia. Upon what grounds such an opinion was founded I am not well informed; but there can be no doubt but that interested views of this kind will in time fall to the ground, especially when civilisation has made more advances, and a more intimate intercourse between the inhabitants of the east and west parts of this continent shall be rendered almost, if not absolutely, necessary. From what I have seen of this republic, I feel thoroughly convinced that

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inland communication will ever remain imperfect-nay, probably little better than it now is. Produce in the interior cannot possibly be conveyed to the coast, and thence exported to foreign markets, with profitable results; cultivation will consequently always be confined to the provinces bordered by the sea; I mean, of course, for such articles as are to be exported. Whatever is yielded by the interior will be consumed at home.

If, therefore, a connection between the east and west populations of this continent is cut off by the natural difficulties presented by the surface, it seems reasonable to conclude that an opening by the isthmus to admit of conveyance by water will become indispensable. This is only contemplating the advantage which such an undertaking would be to Colombia and the other South American powers. But how the magnificence of such a work augments in our ideas when we consider the advantages which would arise from it - how it would influence commerce in every quarter of the earth! The grounds of the proposal made by a number of the most respectable merchants' houses in London, for undertaking the examination and execution of a road, or canal across the isthmus, were objected to, principally from the way in which the capital was to be raised and the parties guaranteed against loss. The cash was to be raised by a joint stock company, which was to be repaid to the parties by the Colombian Government, in bonds bearing a specific interest from the completion of the work. This was, in fact, inviting the Government to make another loan for this specific purpose, and, in short, increasing their national debt without appropriate revenues to meet its demands. One would have thought with a young country that this proposal would have met with immediate sanction; but on the contrary, the Government, seeing the low state of their finances, and the great difficulties they would have in getting the revenue of the republic to cover the expenditure, trembled at the idea of augmenting their inconveniences, which they even at that time knew must sooner or later plunge the whole country into its present difficulties. I cannot well explain the unsettled state of the whole of this country, and the fluctuations of opinion which daily take place among the people. One day we hear of nothing but civil war, another brings forward some displeasing decree from Bolivar, whose character as a disinterested man has lost