Decline of Canals 297 



of passengers ; but in their general economy they may be said 

 to have remained stationary. Their nature almost prohibits 

 the application of mechanical power to advantage in the 

 conveyance of goods and passengers upon them ; and they 

 have not, therefore, partaken of the benefits which other arts 

 have derived from mechanical science. 



" The reverse of this is the case with railroads ; their nature 

 admits of almost unrestricted application of mechanical 

 power upon them, and their utility has been correspondingly 

 increased. . . . 



" At the time of the publication of the first 1 and second* 

 editions of this work scarcely any experiments had been made 

 on a large scale to elucidate the capabilities of canal navigation 

 none, certainly, satisfactory ; since then the competition of 

 railways has aroused the dormant spirit of the canal pro- 

 prietors, and various experiments have been made to ascertain 

 the amount of resistance of boats dragged at different veloci- 

 ties ; attempts have been likewise made to adapt the power 

 of steam to propel the boats upon them, and other experiments 

 have been adopted to increase their activity as a mode of 

 traffic, and especially for the conveyance of passengers." 



These various experiments had little practical result, and 

 the navigation companies found it more to their advantage, in 

 many instances, to make good use of their position and 

 influence, while they were still a power in the land, and force 

 the railway companies either to buy them out entirely or to 

 guarantee them against loss. Such results were generally 

 secured either by first threatening opposition to the railway 

 Bills, and then stating the price for withdrawing therefrom, 

 or, alternatively, by projecting schemes for the competitive 

 lines of railway specially favoured by the State policy of the 

 day, and likely, therefore, to be readily conceded. 



When, in 1845, the Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton 

 Railway Company afterwards amalgamated with the Great 

 Western Railway Company were seeking powers of in- 

 corporation, they were opposed by the Severn Commissioners, 

 who represented that they had spent ^180,000 in improving 

 the waterway, in anticipation of securing a revenue of i 4,000 

 a year. In order to overcome this opposition and get their 

 Bill, the railway company agreed to make up to the Severn 

 1 1825. a 1832. 



