206 YEKY AWKWAED FOE " THE COO." CHAP. XI. 



witness. Nicholas Wood, who was present on the 

 occasion, has since stated that the point on which 

 Stephenson was hardest pressed was that of speed. " I 

 believe," he says, " that it would have lost the Company 

 their Bill if he had gone beyond eight or nine miles an 

 hour. ^ IJj,e had stated his intention of going twelve or 

 fifteen miles^an hour, not a single person would have 

 believed it to be practicable." Mr. Alderson, had, 

 indeed, so pressed the point of " twelve miles an hour," 

 and the promoters were so alarmed lest it should appear 

 in evidence that they contemplated. any such extravagant 

 rate of speed, that immediately on Mr. Alderson sitting 

 down, Mr. Joy proceeded to re-examine Mr. Stephenson, 

 With the view of removing from the minds of the 

 Committee an impression so unfavourable, and, as was 

 supposed, so damaging to their case. " With regard," 

 asked Mr. Joy, " to all those hypothetical questions of 

 my learned friend, they have been all put on the sup- 

 position of going twelve miles an hour : now that is not 

 the rate at which, I believe, any of the engines of which 

 you have spoken have travelled ?" " No," replied 

 Mr. Stephenson, " except as an experiment for a short 

 distance." " But what they have gone has been three, 

 five, or six miles an hour ? " " Yes."- " So that those 

 hypothetical cases of twelve miles an hour do not fall 

 within your general experience ? " 4< They do not." 



The Committee also seem to have entertained some 

 alarm as to the high rate of speed which had been 

 spoken of, and proceeded to examine the witness further 

 on the subject. They supposed the case of the engine 

 being upset when going at nine miles an hour, and 

 asked what, in such a case, would become of the cargo 

 astern. To which the witness replied that it would not 

 be upset. One of the members of the Committee pressed 

 the witness a little further. He put the following 

 case : " Suppose, now, one of these engines to be going 

 along a railroad at the rate of nine or ten miles an hour, 



