208 MR. HARRISON'S SPEECH. CHAP. XL 



the other leading counsel for the opposition. He held 

 his ground bravely, and defended the plans and esti- 

 mates with remarkable ability and skill ; but it was 

 clear they were imperfect, and the result was on the 

 whole damaging to the bill. Mr. (afterwards Sir 

 William) Cubitt was called by the promoters, Mr. 

 Adam stating that he proposed by this witness to correct 

 some of the levels as given by Mr. Stephenson. It 

 seems a singular course to have been taken by the 

 promoters of the measure ; for Mr. Cubitt's evidence 

 went to upset the statements made by Mr. Stephen- 

 son as to the survey. This adverse evidence was, 

 of course, made the most of by the opponents of the 

 scheme. 



Mr. Serjeant Spankie then summed up for the bill, on 

 the 2nd of May, in a speech of great length ; and the 

 case of the opponents was next gone into, Mr. Harrison 

 opening with a long and eloquent speech on behalf of 

 his clients, Mrs. Atherton and others. He indulged 

 in strong vituperation against the witnesses for the 

 bill, and especially dwelt upon the manner in which 

 Mr. Oubitt, for the promoters, had proved that Mr. 

 Stephenson's levels were wrong. " They got a person," 

 said he, " whose character and skill I do not dispute, 

 though I do not exactly know that I should have gone 

 to the inventor of the treadmill as the fittest man to 

 take the levels of Knowsley Moss and Chat Moss, 

 which shook almost as much as a treadmill, as you 

 recollect, for he (Mr. Cubitt) said Chat Moss trembled 

 so much under his feet that he could not take his 



observations accurately In fact, Mr. Cubitt did 



not go on to Chat Moss, because he knew that it was 

 an immense mass of pulp, and nothing else. It actually 

 rises in height, from the rain swelling it like a sponge, 

 and sinks again in dry weather ; arid if a boring instru- 

 ment is put into it, it sinks immediately by its own 

 weight. The making of an embankment out of this 



