372 PROPOSED EXTENSION OF THE 



interrupted by floods on the one hand or droughts on 

 the other, and, at the same time, a much lower rate of 

 freight, the maximum charge proposed in the bill being 

 6.9. a ton against 12s., the rate charged by the Mersey 

 and Irwell navigation between Liverpool and Man- 

 chester. 



The opposition to the bill was led by Lord Strange, 

 son of the Earl of Derby, one of the members for the 

 county of Lancaster, who took the part of the " Old 

 Navigators," as they were called, in resisting the bill. 

 The question seems also to have been treated as a poli- 

 tical one ; and, the Duke and his friends being Whigs, 

 Lord Strange mustered the Tory party strongly against 

 him. Hence we find this entry occurring in Brindley'e 

 note-book, under date the 16th of February: "The 

 Toores [Tories] mad had [made head] agane ye Duk." 

 The principal objections put forward to the proposed 

 canal were, that the landowners would suffer by it from 

 having their lands cut through and covered with water, 

 by which a great number of acres would be for ever lost to 

 the public ; that there was no necessity whatever for the 

 canal, the Mersey and Irwell navigation being sufficient to 

 carry more goods than the then trade could supply ; that 

 the new navigation would run almost parallel with the old 

 one, and offered no advantage to the public which the 

 existing river navigation did not supply ; that the canal 

 would drain away the waters which supplied the rivers, 

 and be very prejudicial to, if not a total obstruction of 

 them in dry seasons ; that the proprietors of the old 

 navigation had invested their money on the faith of 

 Parliament, and to permit the new canal to be esta- 

 blished would be a gross interference with their vested 

 rights ; and so on. To these objections there were 

 very sufficient answers. The bill provided for full com- 

 pensation being made to the owners of lands through 

 which the canal passed, and, in addition, it was provided 

 that all sorts of manure should be carried for them ton- 



