CHAP. XX. FOREIGN HONOURS. 463 



and he went paddling about in the mud, smoking his 

 cigar, until almost dark, when the day's work was 

 brought to an end. The result of this exposure was an 

 attack of inflammation of the lungs, which kept him to 

 his bed for a fortnight. 



Mr. Stephenson also took considerable interest in 

 public affairs and in scientific investigations. In 1847 

 he entered the House of Commons as member for 

 Whitby ; but he does not seem to have been very de- 

 voted in his attendance, and only appeared on divisions 

 when there was a " whip " of the party to which he 

 belonged. He was a member of the Sanitary and 

 Sewage Commissions, and of the Commission which sat 

 on Westminster Bridge. The last occasions on which 

 he addressed the House were on the Suez Canal and the 

 cleansing of the Serpentine. He pronounced the Suez 

 Canal to be an impracticable scheme. " I have surveyed 

 the line," said he, " I have travelled the whole distance 

 on foot, and I declare there is 110 fall between the two 

 seas. Honourable members talk about a canal. A canal 

 is impossible the thing would only be a ditch." 



Besides constructing the railway between Alexandria 

 and Cairo, he was consulted respecting many important 

 lines abroad. He was early consulted, like his father, 

 by the Bang of Belgium, as to the railways of that 

 country ; and he was made Knight of the Order of 

 Leopold because of the improvements which he had 

 made in locomotive engines, so much to the advantage of 

 the Belgian system of inland transit. He was consulted 

 by the King of Sweden as to the railway between 

 Christiana and Lake Miosen, and in consideration of his 

 services was decorated with the Grand Cross of the 

 Order of St. Olaf. He also visited Switzerland, Pied- 

 mont, and Denmark, to advise as to the system of rail- 

 way communication best suited for those countries. 

 At the Paris Exhibition of 1855 the Emperor of France 

 decorated him with the Legion of Honour in considera- 



