Part 4 (1/2)
_Entre nous_, at the door I ood cry (I don't knohich was the greatest fool!) set to work The poor felloas glad to seehis head, and the great , for they all wept! He then received the Sacrament, added soned But his agonies were dreadful! Ransome says they must have been so He expired at nine We never left him till he breathed his last Poor woles to bear with fortitude are wonderful I wish you could have heard hiive us our trespasses as we forgive' 'I have not the smallest ill-will to any one person in the whole world'
They stay here until Saturday, when they begin the sad journey to convey him to Sussex They wanted to bury hiot to tell you that he told Lawrence before starting that he _wished he were safe back_”
Mr Huskisson was not buried at Chichester, for at last Mrs Huskisson consented to the popular wish that his body ht have a public funeral at Liverpool, where a statue of him by Gibson now stands in the cemetery”
ELEVATED SIGHT-SEERS WIshi+NG TO DESCEND
Sir J A Picton, in his _Me incident connected with the opening of the railway at that town ”On the opening of the railway,” he ree' froerly availed of A tolerably high chiround, affording a sufficient platfor at the top for the accoentlee of this crowning eminence to obtain a really 'bird's eye view' of the whole proceedings
They ound up by the tackle used in hoisting the bricks, and enjoyed the perspective froht to their hearts' content When all was over they, of course, wished to descend, and gave the signal to be let down again, but alas! there was no response The e, excited by the events of the day, confused by the sorrowful news by which it was closed, and, it otten his engage were gathering, the ed to act the part of St Simeon of Stylites very involuntarily Despair added force and strength to their lungs, and at length-their condition and difficulty having attracted attention-they were relieved from their unpleasant predicament”
THE DUKE'S CARRIAGE
A correspondent of the _Athenaeue prepared for the Duke of Wellington at the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, re our northern idea considers a carriage The floor is 32 feet long by 8 wide, gilt pillars support a crinitude be likened to the car of Juggernaut; yet this hugeat its own fiery will evenof heart and mind,' than a shi+p on the ocean”
LORD BROUGHAM'S SPEECH
At a dinner given at Liverpool in celebration of the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, Lord Brougham thus discourses upon the memorable event and the death of Mr Huskisson:-”When I saw the difficulties of space, as it were, overcome; when I beheld a kind of miracle exhibited before antic power ofa great, a lasting, an almost perennial conquest over the powers of nature by his skill and industry; when I contemplated all this, was it possible for me to avoid the reflections which crowded into reat success, not in adenius and perseverance he had displayed, or even of the courage he had shown in setting hiainst the obstacles that matter afforded to his course-no! but the ious efforts of the human race, so fruitful of praise but soto mankind, have forced a tear from my eye by that unhappy casualty which deprived me of a friend and you of a representative!”
AN EARLY RIDE ON THE LIVERPOOL AND MANCHESTER RAILWAY
No account of its first beginnings would, however, be coive an idea of the i over it before yet the novelty of the thing had quite worn away It was a long time, comparatively, after September, 1830, before the men who had made a trip over the railroad ceased to be objects of deep curiosity Here is the account of his experience by one of these far-travelledabout it:-
”Although the whole passage between Liverpool and Manchester is a series of enchanthts, because they are realities, not fictions, yet there are epochs in the transit which are peculiarly exciting These are the startings, the ascents, the descents, the tunnels, the Chat Moss, the , or rather before, the automaton belches forth an explosion of steam, and seems for a second or two quiescent But quickly the explosions are reiterated, with shorter and shorter intervals, till they becoh still distinct These belchings or explosions er, than any sound that has ever vibrated onthe ascent they become slower and slower, till the automaton actually labours like an anihest point of elevation The progression is proportionate; and before the said point is gained, the train is notfaster than a horse can pace With the slowbecoth the anier, when overpowered in coht is reached and the descent coine with its train starts off with aug down the declivity like lightning, and with a unifore of distant artillery
”At this period, the whole train is going at the rate of thirty-five or forty miles an hour! I was on the outside, and in front of the first carriage, just over the engine The scene was h it was a dead cal a hurricane, such was the velocity hich we darted through the air Yet all was steady; and there was soree of confidence over fear-of safety over danger A man may travel from the Pole to the Equator, from the Straits of Malacca to the Isth as this The pangs of Etna and Vesuvius excite feelings of horror as well as of terror; the convulsion of the ele but pride, much less of pleasure, to counteract the awe inspired by the fearful workings of perturbed nature; but the scene which is here presented, and which I cannot adequately describe, engenders a proud consciousness of superiority in hu than any effort or product of the poet, the painter, the philosopher, or the divine The projections or transits of the train through the tunnels or arches are very electrifying The deafening peal of thunder, the sudden iloom, and the clash of reverberated sounds in confined space combine to produce a momentary shudder or idea of destruction-a thrill of annihilation, which is instantly dispelled on es or crossings of the steaitating to the nerves than their transits through the tunnels The velocity of their course, the propinquity or apparent identity of the iron orbits along which these ht of a possible collision, with all its horrible consequences The period of suspense, however, though exquisitely painful, is but momentary; and in a few seconds the object of terror is far out of sight behind
”Nor is the rapid passage across Chat Moss unworthy of notice The ingenuity hich two narrow rods of iron are ons, laden withacross a wide, semi-fluid morass, previously impassable byof eternal record Only conceive a slender bridge of two th, level as Waterloo, elastic as whalebone, yet firenius-this veritable _via triues bounds with the velocity of the stricken deer; the vibrations of the resilient lide along the surface of an extensive quagmire as safely as a practiced skater skims the icy mirror of a frozen lake
”The first class or train is the most fashi+onable, but the second or third are theI travelled one day from Liverpool to Manchester in the lues were occupied by the swinish multitude, and others by a multitude of swine These last were naturally vociferous if not eloquent It is evident that the other passengers would have been considerably annoyed by the orators of this last group, had there not been stationed in each carriage an officer soous to the Usher of the Black Rod, but whose designation on the railroad I found to be 'Co-faced gentle, than the 'Coave him a whack over the snout with the butt end of his shi+llelagh; a snubber which never failed to stop his oratory for the remainder of the journey”
To one faraph is peculiarly significant For years after the railroad systeislation was invoked to co passengers of the third class in uncovered carriages, exposed to all weather, and with no more decencies or comforts than were accorded to swine
EARLY RAILWAY TRAVELLING