220 OPPOSITION COACHES 



that each laro-e establishment was a little kino-dom of 

 itself — that each particular road Avas a territory that 

 perhaps jointly, perhaps solely, became the right from 

 long usage of this or that establishment, and any in- 

 fringement of such right was considered an offence, and 

 immediately met with retaliation. 



The general result was open and declared hostilities, in 

 the shape of opposition coaches, going at a more rapid 

 pace and at reduced fares, terminating frequently in the 

 ruin of one or both parties. 



It will not then be difficult to divine that it required a 

 good general, that is, a man with a good capacity, of keen 

 judgment, and, what is more, of considerable caution, 

 to preside over such an establishment ; for he had to 

 seek and secure alliances among the different country 

 proprietors, and to hold it in his power to reward the 

 allegiance of one, or punish the delinquency of another — 

 all of which involved tact, penetration and forethought. 



For want of these my poor father fell, and, in his fall, 

 crushed the rising aspirations of his more ambitious son, 

 and blotted them out for ever. It would be worse than 

 a foolish vanity to compare this with the fall of those 

 brilliant stars of sfreater or less mao'nitude, whose careers 

 are emblazoned in the pages of history ; but the effects 

 on the individual are the same as is so truly depicted in 

 the lines emanating from a spirit that could so justly 

 appreciate the beatings of the human heart, in the lowest 

 as well as in the highest condition : — 



" Aiid the poor beetle that we tread upon, 

 lu corporal sufferance feels a pang as great 

 As when a giant dies." 



