GEORGE STEPHENSON. 99 



the man successfully to carry it through.' * I think so too, 

 rejoined Mr. Pease, * and I may observe to thee, that if thou 

 succeed in making this a good railway, thou may consider thy 

 fortune as good as made.'" The remark and reply were alike 

 characteristic of the promoters of the first railway. 



The graphic description, by an early friend, of Mr. Edward 

 Pease, that "he was a man who could see a hundred years 

 ahead," was strikingly proved in the weeks that followed his 

 first interview with George Stephenson. Having accepted the 

 invitation to " come over to Killingworth," and having seen 

 with his own eyes what " my * Blucher ' can do," his mind 

 became at once clear as to the immense future awaiting the 

 introduction of the *' iron horse " upon the iron railway, and he 

 not only strongly advocated the use of locomotives, but made 

 himself Stephenson's partner in their manufacture. Through 

 his influence the still unknown engine-wright at Killingworth 

 was appointed engineer of the Stockton-Darlington line, and at 

 his urgent request Mr. Pease applied for a new Act of Parliament 

 giving the Stockton-Darlington Company power to work the 

 railway by means of locomotive engines, and to employ them 

 for the haulage of passengers as well as goods. The Act was 

 obtained with some difficulty, against the bitter opposition of a 

 number of powerful peers, such as the Duke of Cleveland, in 

 llie session of 1823, when the construction of the railway, under 

 George Stephenson's supervision, was already going on actively. 

 The first rail of the Stockton and Darlington line had been laid, 

 v.-ith considerable ceremony, near the town of Stockton, on the 

 23rd of May, 1S22, and notwithstanding the uninterrupted opposi- 

 tion, frequently growing into acts of personal violence, of hundreds 

 of enemies, backed by the whole mob of the district, the Avorks 

 were pushed on so vigorously, that it was possible to open the 



