COACH PROPRIETORS. 143 



mingham road, or the line opened at all, overtures 

 seem to have been made to him on behalf of the 

 Railway Company, with a view of obtaining a 

 transfer of his interest and business from the road to 

 the railway ; but considering his position stronger 

 than it eventually turned out to be, he declined the 

 proposition, with what results will be seen in the 

 sequel in his negotiation with Mr. Glyn, the chair- 

 man of the London and Birmingham line at that 

 time. 



His own version of the transaction was : 



' I gave Mr. Glyn an account of the number of my 

 coaches that would be affected by the railway, and 

 told him that when public convenience did not require 

 these coaches on the road, I would withdraw them, 

 and send the trade through the railway if he would 

 allow me to do so.' 



Mr. Glyn perhaps thought this was ' Thank you for 

 nothing,' according to an old phrase. It was virtually 

 saying, ' When the public have ceased travelling by 

 my coaches, and my business is gone, I will pass it 

 over to your company.' 



Under these circumstances it is not surprising to 

 find that the company made overtures to other coach- 

 proprietors, who between them had a considerable, 

 number of coaches and mails on the Birmingham, 

 Manchester and Liverpool roads. Sherman said that 



