46 AUTOBIOGRAPHY [CHAP. vi. 



the other as the vessel lurched. On the whole the transit by 

 the Old Passage Ferry, so well known in former days, was 

 one link in a chain of necessities which left much room for 

 changing times to improve. 



The great change in the method of travelling may be said 

 to have been publicly inaugurated in the spring of 1830 x 

 by the opening of the Canterbury and Whitstable line of 

 railway. 



In the same year the Bill for the Warrington railway was 

 passed by both Houses of Parliament, and permission was 

 also granted to construct a line from Leicester to Swan- 

 nington, Robert Stephenson being appointed chief engineer 

 to both lines. But the great railway event of that year was 

 the opening, with an imposing ceremonial, on September 

 1 5th, of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. This left 

 nothing to be desired in showing high appreciation of 

 the importance of advance in methods of locomotion. 

 Although a complete success, from the point of view of 

 capabilities of safe and also of rapid travelling, the day was 

 one of great trouble and anxiety. As the train neared 

 Manchester the mob crowded on the lines, and while to 

 have gone forward at any moderate pace would have been 

 death to hundreds, on the other hand, the slow movement 

 allowed the populace to swarm on the carriages and dis- 

 play their political aversion to " the Duke " (Wellington) 

 by throwing brickbats, and by other objectional irregu- 

 larities. The riot was not so much remembered as the 

 accident which resulted in the death of Huskisson. I can 

 recollect the unsophisticated story of something being seen 

 going along the line at such a speed that it was hardly dis- 

 cernible ; and also that a horn was used for train signalling 

 in place of the steam whistle. Carelessness of life through 

 ignorance of the danger was everywhere conspicuous ; dis- 

 cipline was much needed. My father while waiting at a 

 station took pleasure in walking along the line to while 

 away the time. Tying horse-carriages on open trucks was 

 not an unusual practice with carriage-people who could 

 afford to pay for the luxury. My father long travelled in 

 his own carriage thus attached, and stepped from the truck 

 on which it stood to the next, but of course at considerable 

 danger to his person. 



1 For some years previously the possibility of transmission, at a low 

 rate of speed, of goods or mineral products had been established 

 by George and Robert Stephenson, against great opposition in some 

 cases. 



