CHAPTER XIII 



WHAT BECAME OF THE COACHMEN 



" Steam, Jaines Watt, and George Steplienson have a great deal 

 to answer for. They will ruin the breed of horses, as they have 

 already ruined the innkeepers and the coachmen, many of Avhom 

 have already been obliged to seek relief at the poor-house, or have 

 died in penury and want." — The Times, 1839. 



" Where," asked Thackeray iu Vanity Fair, 

 " Avliere is the road now, audits merry incidents 

 of life ? Is there no Chelsea or Greenwich for 

 the honest, pimple-nosed coachmen ? " No, there 

 was not. The action of Parliament in sanctioning 

 so many railways in so short a sj^acc of time, 

 without making any legislative restriction or pro- 

 vision in favour of the coachmen whose careers 

 were ruined by railways, seems strange to the 

 present generation, hut in no single instance were 

 they considered. The greatest and swiftest revo- 

 lution ever brought about in the methods and 

 habits of travelling took place in the short period 

 of time between 1837, Avhen the effect of raihvays 

 first began to be felt, and 1818, Avhen most of the 

 great main lines Avere opened. Eleven years is no 

 great space in Avhicli to effect so sweejiing a change, 

 and it is not surprising that ruin and misery were 

 wrought by it, not among coachmen alone, but 

 dealt out impartially to every one of the many 



