1844.] REMOVES TO CAMBRIDGE SQUARE. 259 less connected with every railway between Birmingham and Newcastle.' Whilst the Newcastle and Darlington Railway was in course of execution Robert Stephenson made two visits to the continent. In 1843 he spent several days at Naples considering railway projects, and more especially protecting the interests of the Newcastle factory from the unscrupulous competition of persons whom he had uniformly treated with liberality. On his return home he visited various parts of Germany, securing, as his letters to Newcastle testify, new and powerful connections wherever he went. By this time he had given up his establishment on Haverstock Hill, and moved to Cambridge Square, Hyde Park. After Mrs. Stephenson's death he conceived a dislike for the home which he had inhabited for eight of the happiest years of his life. It was too far from town, now that it was no longer presided over by a wife. A widower, like a bachelor, finds it best to dwell near the clubs, so that he can readily find society. Connected with Robert Stephenson's residence in Cambridge Square was a trifling incident, which should be mentioned, as it serves to show how careless he was about arrangements that were not connected with his profession. Scarcely had his furniture been shifted from Haverstock Hill to Cambridge Square when much of it was destroyed by a fire that broke out in the middle of the night. Robert Stephenson, who had only slept once or twice before in his new residence, narrowly escaped with his life from the flames. While the house was undergoing restoration-a work that occupied nearly a twelvemonth he took up his quarters in furnished lodgings, and had almost reconciled himself to the destruction of his property by fire, when he was greatly surprised by a demand from his landlord for the rent of the dwelling which had for ten months been unfit for use. He was not aware that in case of fire the tenant, unless he be protected by a special clause in his lease, or by the terms of a fire-insurance policy, endures the consequences of the casualty to the extent of paying rent for an unserviceable tenement. On the night of this fire George Stephenson was sleeping in his son's house. The first in the house to sniff the smell of fire, he lost no time in taking care of himself. When Robert Stephenson and his servants were in the act of flying from the burning house in their night-clothes, the prudent father made his appearance in the hall, dressed even to his white neckcloth, and with his carpet-bag packed and swinging in his hand. anecdote is told by friends as a story highly characteristic of his presence of mind and readiness of action. This The year 1844 is a conspicuous landmark in the career of Robert Stephenson. For twenty years he had been at work without intermission, and as the result of his exertions he found himself, whilst he was still only forty years of age, in the first rank of his profession. Had he however died then, he would have left nothing to which history could point as the monument of original and distinctive genius. He had raised the locomotive by a series of beautiful improvements from the ill-proportioned and ineffective machine of 1828 almost to its present perfection of mechanism. He had, in conjunction with his father, so fixed the English railway system in continental countries, that throughout Europe his name was identi 1844.1 THE CLOSE OF AN IMPORTANT YEAR. 261 fied with the new means of locomotion. His engineering achievements were beyond all cavil works of great ability-but not of distinctive genius. Hitherto he had, in the manner of a master, carried out the principles and developed the conceptions of previous teachers, of whom his father was the most important. The time, however, was now come for him to take a higher position and accomplish works altogether without precedent. The next six years of Robert Stephenson's life-years memorable in the annals of social folly, crime, and suffering-witnessed the exertions by which his influence. and name will reach future generations. They saw the atmospheric contest, the battle of the gauges, the construction of the tubular bridge, and the completion of the high level bridge. It is impossible to record the labours of the engineer during the interval between the opening of 1844 and the close of 1850 without contrasting them with the intrigues of adventurers who regarded railway enterprise as gamesters regard a gambling table. The triumph of these adventurers was brief. Just as the worker reached the fullness of his fame, the chief speculator dropped from his eminence, to be scouted by those who had fawned on him in prosperity, and to be despoiled by those whom he had benefited even more than by those whom he had wronged. The rest of this memoir will be devoted to a consideration of Robert Stephenson's great public parliamentary contests, in connection with the atmospheric system and the gauges; to a description of those remarkable achievements by which he will be known as the 'builder' of iron bridges,'—and to a general view of his professional and personal history from the time of his entrance into the House of Commons as member for Whitby in 1847 up to the time of his death eleven years afterwards. But before this second portion of Robert Stephenson's life is entered upon, in order that the reader may have a complete picture of the movement which he influenced, it will be necessary to glance at the history of railway enterprise and railway legislation. 1844.] 263 CHAPTER XIII. RAILWAY PROGRESS AND RAILWAY LEGISLATION. First Act of Parliament authorising the Construction of a Railway-Railway Developement from the Year 1801 to 1846 inclusive-The Railway Mania of 1825-26-The Railway Mania of 1836-37 The Railway Mania of 1845-46-Difference between the Crises of 1825-26 and 1836-37 and of 1845-46- Report from Committees, 1837-Bubble Companies-Parliamentary Influence-Parliamentary Corruption-Compensation; Stories of - The Parliamentary Committee as a Tribunal - Robert Stephenson's Views on Parliamentary Legislation - Observations on his Project for a 'Preliminary Board of Inquiry' - Causes of Parliamentary Inconsistency - Stories of the Parliamentary Bar Professional Witnesses in the House of Commons: Robert Stephenson, Brunel, Locke, Lardner, Bidder Great Britain compared with other Countries in respect of Railway Developement-Results-Proposal for Railway Farmers-Proposal for a Railway Bank. RAILWAY organisation, like most important com mercial systems, was an affair of small commencement; and to this fact can be traced the principal defects and errors of railway legislation. The early tramways were private works, undertaken at the sole cost, and carried out for the benefit of private traders who for generations bought 'way leave' of landed proprietors, and occasionally made arrangements of cooperation with the owners of adjacent roads without seeking parliamentary sanction. It was not till the middle of the last century that the legislature was first solicited to authorise the construction of a railroad, and so received a |