138 STAGE-COACH AND MAIL IN DAYS OF YORE 



loomed threatening upon the horizon of the 

 carriers' and coachmen's outlook, commanded the 

 hulk of the goods traffic between London and the 

 Midlands, alike. by road and canal. That was a 

 period ahove all others Avhen a clear head was 

 requisite. It appeared to many to he a choice 

 between giving up business or fighting the en- 

 croachments of steam. To the few, of whom 

 Baxendale Avas one, the issues were more varied 

 and hopeful. He foresaw that railways must 

 succeed, and that, since to fight them Avould be 

 hopeless, the best thing to do would be to work 

 with them as far as possible. The business 

 need not be injured ; indeed, he saw that it must 

 needs share in whatever prosperity attended the 

 railways. Only methods must be changed. Eut 

 to reorganise a vast Ijusiness only just, after 

 thirteen years of unwearied effort, re-established 

 on new and improved lines, must have seemed a 

 hard necessity. However, wlien the Liverpool 

 and Manchester Railway, the second line in the 

 country, was about to be opened, in 1830, he 

 perceived that although the road traffic must cease 

 between the two terminal points of a railway, 

 yet there must be some agency prepared to collect 

 goods, and deliver them to or convey them from 

 the railway stations. He saw, too, an inevitable 

 increase in the volume of traffic, and very pru- 

 dently resolved to ol^tain a share of it by throwing 

 in liis lot Avith \\\^^. railway people, wlio were 

 themselves not so assured of instant success as 

 to repel so unexpected an offer, and welcomed the 



