Without minutely inquiring into the origin of the different modes of conveyance at present existing in this country and others for passengers and goods, I shall content myself with asking, Why were canals first established? and What was the great benefit arising from them, which caused so much as fifteen hundred miles in extent to be executed in less than a quarter of a century, at a cost of nearly twenty millions of money, and for the most part during a time of war, when the highest rate of taxation prevailed?

Previously to the establishment of canals,—roads, waggons and horses were the means employed for the conveyance of goods; and the speed which they accomplished was greater than the average speed afterwards obtained by canals. But notwithstanding this advantage, it was found, that to carry a ton weight of grain, coal, or merchandize one hundred miles cost upwards of 6l. Hence materials and goods, whose weight bore a great proportion to their value, could only be conveyed a few miles from the spot where they were raised or manufactured; and thus, sources of wealth that have since been highly productive and profitable were shut up and useless. Baron Dupin in his excellent work on the Commercial Power of Great Britain, published 1825, states, “Up to 1756 England had not a single line of artificial navigation; she possessed for communication by land, only a small number of roads injudiciously cut and ill kept up. Of a sudden an individual conceives the idea to profit by the general impulsion which industry had received, by cutting a canal to carry to Manchester the product of his mines. Shortly afterwards, a town which thrives, and of which the exuberant wealth seeks everywhere productive outlets,—Liverpool,—aspires to still higher designs. She is the first to form and realize the project of opening a navigable channel between the Irish Sea and the German Ocean. Other channels even more extended are opened by degrees: thus, within the short space of half a century, a double row of canals is formed, both for great and small navigation, for the purpose of uniting together opposite seas; basins separated by numberless chains of hills and mountains; opulent ports; industrious towns; fertile plains; and inexhaustible mines;—and this presents a development of more than a thousand leagues in length, upon a portion of territory not equal to one-fourth of France! The roads which already existed are enlarged, are reconstructed with more art, and kept up with more care. New channels are thrown open to commerce, and a system of roads is now being formed, of which the total length is at present (1825) more than 46,000 leagues in England alone. Thanks to these works, at this moment, in the three kingdoms, 22,300 merchant-vessels, manned by 160,000 men, and capable of carrying two millions of tons of merchandize, are scarcely sufficient for the exportation of the superfluity of interior circulation, for the trade along the coast, and for the importation of those foreign products necessary to keep up a circulation so immense.”

As further instances of the effect produced by the same causes,—in 1740, before the establishment of canals, the iron manufactured in England and Scotland employed 59 furnaces, which produced annually 17,000 tons. In 1827 there were upwards of 280 furnaces, with an annual produce of 690,000 tons; during the intervening period canals were cut, connecting the iron districts with large towns and the ports. In 1750 there was but one smelting furnace in Staffordshire, making less than 2,000 tons of iron per annum. In 1827 there were 97 furnaces in that district only, making 216,000 tons per annum. The population of Staffordshire in 1750 was 160,000; it is now upwards of 350,000. In England in 1750 it was 6,017,000; it is now upwards of 13,000,000.

The total amount of the exports in 1750 was 7,772,039l.; in 1824 it was 56,234,663l. In 1760 the number of ships assessed in Liverpool was 1,245; in 1824, it was 10,001. These statements are sufficient to show the changes consequent upon the introduction of canals. It was found, that one horse upon a canal could convey twenty times what he could upon a road; and that what formerly cost six pounds to send a hundred miles, could by canals be sent for little more than one pound. Such is the traffic upon the Birmingham Canal alone, that at some periods there is a weight of goods and materials brought by 150 horses and boats, in one day, which by the roads would require 3,000 horses and 1,000 waggons. We find again that the population has more than doubled itself in three principal inland towns, viz. Birmingham, Manchester, and Leeds, since the establishment of canals.

But notwithstanding the advantages that have attended upon the introduction of canals, there are limits within which their utility is confined, and, as regards despatch, much confined. The canals as they are now constructed are adapted only to horse power, and are subject to the inconvenience of that slowness of travelling which arises from the great increased resistance of fluids to bodies moving in them, with only a very slight increase of velocity. Two horses may take a loaded boat of twenty-five tons at the rate of four miles per hour; but to obtain a velocity of twelve miles per hour, it would require twenty-seven horses. It is found that with a velocity of six miles per hour so great a surge or swell is produced in the water as to hazard the sinking of any boats that are passing.

The stoppages arising at the locks is very considerable. In the canals between Birmingham and London, every means are used to effect despatch; but still the quickest passage for the fly-boats is sixty hours. The distance is 153 miles, and there are 142 locks; nearly one-third of the time is lost in passing them; and while this is being done, one horse and four men are comparatively idle; the expenses of wages and keep however are going on. These expenses are incurred more particularly by the haulage; but in addition to them the tonnages are very high, and of necessity so, since the repairs of so many locks, cleaning and repairing canal, and above all, the raising of water to the summit-levels by steam-engines, must incur a great expense. The cost of this last operation may be guessed at, when it is known that for every boat that passes from London to Birmingham, a body of water of 120 tons weight has to pass through a difference of level of 1,140 feet. And yet in dry summers, notwithstanding the pains thus bestowed, the boats are frequently detained, for want of water, twelve, eighteen, and twenty-four hours in one trip.

Much, then, as the canals surpass the common roads, it appears that much remains to be done, if their peculiar disadvantages can be got rid of.

The economy of steam compared with horse power is too well established to need many comments. The expense of working a twenty-horse power steam-engine is known to be less than one-sixth of the cost of twenty horses and men to attend them. I appeal to the proprietors of the thousands of steam-engines now in use for the truth of this statement. Does not, then, a question at once arise, Whether it is not possible to construct a road of some kind upon which this great and cheap power may be made to act, instead of horses, and with as great a degree of profit? We rejoice that the question has suggested itself, and that it has received an answer. The application of steam to the purpose of locomotion has been proved upon a rail-road between Manchester and Liverpool. Moreover, the economy of steam power when applied to rapid progression is found to be much greater than when it is employed to supersede the horse-mill. In this the animal is not driven beyond his speed, but is allowed to move at a rate of two miles and a half per hour,—a speed which he can continue to perform for eight or ten hours per day. A horse is found to perform the greatest quantum of work when moving at this rate, and to be employed most economically. But even compared with this, we have seen that an equal effect may be produced by steam power at one-sixth the cost. With how much greater advantage and profit, then, can steam be applied, where it is made to supersede the use of horses in rapid motion, of eight or ten miles per hour! at which work it is known they can continue but one hour per day, and even then they do not live to half the age of the horse employed at the slower speed. It is a fact, that horses employed in the fast coaches and for the fly-boats require renewing every four years. Can steam power, then, be used to produce this rapid motion? One hundred thousand persons that have passed from Liverpool to Manchester in less than two hours since September last, can answer this question in the affirmative.

Another great advantage of the railway over the common road is the much greater safety that it offers. The above number of passengers have been conveyed with scarcely an accident. Is there a line of turnpike-road in the kingdom that can make the same boast, where an equal number of passengers have travelled? The general causes of accident upon a common road, such for instance as the horses taking fright, the coachman losing command over them, the coach running against some obstacle in the road, or upsetting, cannot happen upon a railway. The engine can exert no additional force without the consent of the man who superintends it; one carriage cannot meet another, as there is a separate line for carriages travelling in the opposite direction; and even if a wheel breaks, the carriage is so low that it would not upset. The only objection that is started on this head, is the bursting of the boiler: this is now constructed with a number of small tubes, through which the fire passes, and which are all inclosed in a strong iron case; so that if one of these small tubes burst, it immediately acts as a safety-valve, discharging the steam of the boiler into the chimney, and removing the apprehended danger.

Here then we have safety and despatch, and we may next consider economy in travelling. In this respect the public have also found an advantage. The charges by the Liverpool and Manchester railway are not half what the coaches formerly charged, the fares being but 3s. 6d. and 5s. each. And the effect produced is, that the average number of passengers by the railway is upwards of 1,000 per day. The average number by the coaches the preceding year was only about 500 per day, paying 7s. outside and 12s. inside. Goods are now taken in three hours, and at a charge of 11s. per ton; they were before thirty-six hours on the water-conveyance, at a charge of 15s. per ton.

Having then referred to what has been done upon a line of railway from Liverpool to Manchester, with a profit to the proprietors and great benefit to the public, let us inquire whether there is the same want of an improved conveyance from Birmingham to London. We will first consider the amount that is now paid, and the time that is now required for conveying both goods and passengers. The amount paid for the conveyance of passengers and goods between Birmingham and London is upwards of 800,000l. per annum; more than half of which is comparatively at a high rate, as will be seen by the following statements.

The charges by coaches for passengers are 42s. inside, and 21s. outside, and for parcels 1d. per pound. By waggon, the charge is 5s. per cwt. By fly-boat, for packages and general merchandise, 60s. per ton; and for iron-castings in boat-loads, 32s.; for pig-iron, 25s. per ton. Thus the coach charge for luggage, at ten miles per hour, is 1s. 9d. per ton per mile; waggon charge, for a rate of three miles and a half per hour, is 10¾d. per ton per mile; and goods by fly-boat, at two miles per hour, 6½d. per ton per mile; and the lowest rate for pig-iron 2½d. per ton per mile. These charges are calculated upon a distance of 110 miles.

for only a portion of the business; as in the above statement none of the coaching or posting that falls upon the Holyhead road, at Coventry, Northampton, and many of the towns nearer London, is taken into the account. The above amount is calculated from what passes through Birmingham only, and that exclusive of posting.In addition to the above traffic, there are upwards of 2,000 tons that pass daily through Birmingham, besides an equal amount upon the Grand Junction Canal. There is also the whole of the business that arrives at the different towns upon the line; and it is ascertained that the passengers by stage-coaches only that pass through the towns near London, are upwards of four times the number that pass through Birmingham. But if it appears that a considerable profit would arise from conveying but a portion of the business by a railway, it will be much more satisfactory than if it were dependent upon the whole for an adequate return. And yet, as it appears that passengers are taken by this mode of conveyance in half the time in which they can be taken by any other, and at half the cost, and that goods are conveyed in one-sixth of the time and at a lower charge, the great probability is that a considerable portion will immediately be sent by it.

We will now inquire what would be the cost of conveying by a railway between Birmingham and London, the passengers and goods which are now paying by the roads and canals 409,900l. per annum.

It has been ascertained upon the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, that the whole expenses of one engine, capable of conveying twenty-five tons of goods 105 miles per day, at a rate of from ten to fifteen miles per hour, including fuel, attendance, repairs, oil, grease, &c., is 500l. per annum. Its eight waggons (the number required for 25 tons) at 30l. per annum each, involve a yearly expense of 240l. This, with the 500l., makes a total cost of 740l. We will take it at 800l. per annum, which gives the following cost, on the supposition that each engine takes but twenty tons:

We then have a total cost of only 18,000l., exclusive of railway dues, for conveying that by steam power which the public are now paying 409,900l. for conveying by horses upon roads and canals in one district only. This, as before stated, is only a portion of the business. Supposing 2,000 tons of goods to be conveyed daily at 20s. per ton, which is less than two-thirds of the present average charge; and taking 300 days per annum, we have 600,000l.; that might be taken by 200 engines, which with the waggons would cost, at the rate of 800l. each, 160,000l. per annum. Nothing is calculated here for the conveyance of cattle, which may be reckoned upon, when it is known that the present cost of conveying an ox from Daventry or Leicester to London, including the loss of weight by driving, is 30s.; and when it is also known that a weight equal to an ox may be taken that distance in five hours for 7s. Sheep may also be taken at a proportionately low rate. Another great source of income and profit will arise from the conveyance of carriages and horses, as both will be taken with ease and safety in vehicles constructed for the purpose.

The question we will next consider is the amount of capital required for making such a road. The London and Birmingham Railway is stated at 3,000,000l. This is taken from the most accurate estimates; but for the satisfaction of those who would like to have corroborative statements, we will compare it with the cost of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. This undertaking, it is stated, may cost, including its carrying department and engines, carriages, &c., 1,000,000l.; and the railway is thirty-two miles in length. (For particulars see Appendix, No. I.)

The London and Birmingham Railway will be 105 miles in length; and therefore, constructed on the same scale, and its cost calculated at the same rate per mile, it would require, including every expense, rather more than 3,000,000l. But it must be recollected that materials and wages are at least twenty per cent. lower now than at the time the Liverpool and Manchester Railway was constructing. The cost of the rails for the Liverpool and Manchester Railway was 12l. 10s. per ton; they may now be purchased for 8l. 10s. per ton. The considerable reduction that has taken place in the wages of labour must be taken into account, particularly as three-fourths of the whole cost will be in an expenditure of this nature upon the line. The great reduction that has taken place in all kinds of ironwork will tend to reduce the cost of the engines, and the machinery required in the construction of the road.

It must not be forgotten, that the Liverpool and Manchester being the first line of the same magnitude that had ever been constructed, many expenses occurred, which are always attendant upon works of a new kind, and which are much reduced when the same kind of work has to be executed again. It was formerly the opinion of those who are best acquainted with these subjects, that railways might be constructed at as little expense as canals: and when we consider that a canal requires a perfect level; occupies an equal width of land with a railway; must have its embankments made of materials impervious to water;—and when, again, it is known that an expensive lock is required at almost every mile, as well as numerous drains and reservoirs to collect the water from the surrounding country, and powerful engines to raise the water from the lower to the summit levels;—it does appear a natural supposition, that such a work must require a greater outlay than a road, which, to a degree, has the inclination suited to the level of the country over which it passes; whose embankments, instead of being washed by a river, have only to carry two or four bars of iron; and, moreover, in whose banks no injury from leakage can arise to the country lying below it; which invariably happens to land at the foot of canal embankments.

That funds will be provided for the London and Birmingham Railway far beyond any amount expended in canals, will be seen by the following statement:—In 1825, it is stated, there were in England ninety-seven canals, the total extent of which was 2,471 miles, and the cost of which was 30,000,000l.; giving an average cost of about 12,500l. per mile. The railway from London to Birmingham will be 105 miles in length, and capital to the amount of 3,000,000l. will be provided for it: this gives an average of upwards of 28,000l. per mile. That the land in this direction is more favourable to works of this kind than that in many other parts of the country, is known by the canals that run in this district costing less per mile than the average rate of others. But even if the Railway costs twice or three times as much as a canal, the advantages that it has over a canal in its amount of traffic, and the economy attending it, are in a much greater proportion than the increase of its cost.

There are very few canals of any extent that can pass more than two hundred tons of goods per hour. The locks in general admit of but one boat passing at a time, carrying from twenty to twenty-five tons. Where the greatest despatch is used, the average is not more than eight boats passed per hour. Here at once is a limit to the despatch of canal conveyance. Eight boats per hour, at an average load of twenty tons, gives only 160 tons per hour as the greatest quantity that can be passed. The average load of a fly-boat is but sixteen tons.

Let us now inquire what might be conveyed along a single line of railway, on the supposition that a speed of ten miles per hour only may be performed upon it. The number of yards in a mile (1,760) multiplied by the speed, gives 17,600. A carriage for three tons of goods occupies a space of four yards and a half; but we will suppose a space of six yards is required, which gives two yards for each ton. Then 17,600 (the number of yards per mile multiplied by the velocity) divided by 2 yards, gives 8,800 tons per hour, on the supposition that the carriages moved in a continuous train; but with a space between each train of carriages equal in length to the train, we have half that amount, or 4,400 tons, that might if necessary be conveyed upon a single line of railway: or, what requires twenty-four hours to pass through the canal locks at Birmingham, might be sent along a railway in one hour. Thus it appears, that canals are limited, in respect of the quantity of goods that can be conveyed upon them, to less than 200 tons per hour; their greatest average speed is less than three miles per hour, and for the slow boats one mile and a half per hour; the general expense of haulage is 1d. per ton per mile; they are subject to stoppages averaging five weeks per annum, from frost, drought, and repairs. A railway, on the contrary, may convey 4,000 tons per hour, at a velocity of fifteen miles: steam propelling power costs only one farthing per ton per mile, exclusive of the waggons; and the stoppage that would arise from the breaking of a rail, would not be more than one of half an hour.

Does not this show, then, that an infinitely superior conveyance is now offered to the public, both for themselves and their goods? An instance of the support which the public give to quick conveyance, is afforded by the facts, that in 1800 there were seven coaches from Birmingham to London, and the average time was eighteen and twenty hours; that at present there are twenty-two coaches, and the average time is twelve hours.

Last year the number of passengers from Liverpool to Manchester was 500 per day, and the time occupied by the journey four hours. Since the opening of the Railway in September last, the average number has been nearly 1,000 per day, and the time two hours. The increase of passing between the towns that have had steam communication has been in a much greater proportion than the above. Between London and Margate, Dover and Calais, Liverpool and Dublin, Liverpool and Greenock, Stockton and Darlington, the passing has increased nearly ten-fold since the establishment of such improved conveyance. It is calculated that the whole number of passengers by steam-boats is one million and a quarter per annum. Can it then be expected that a steam communication from Birmingham to London will be an exception? for there is not a line to be found of equal extent in the kingdom on which the population is so great, or on which the commercial and agricultural transactions are so important. As the utility of railroads may be considered established by the one now in operation, it must be evident how desirable it is to connect Liverpool, Manchester, and Birmingham, and ultimately other towns in the North, with the Metropolis. Supposing a railroad connecting these important towns to exist, which might be considered as the chief line of communication from the North to the South, there is a reasonable hope, that shortly other roads would be proposed and executed, connecting the remaining influential towns. An expeditious, cheap, and secure conveyance would thus be established throughout the country; so that in all probability, the business that would be brought upon the main line by these side channels would increase the whole traffic beyond what can now be calculated upon.

It may be objected, that railroads would throw out of employment a great number of people, who are now actively engaged, as coachmen, guards, horse-keepers, boatmen, waggoners, &c.: but as all improvements which tend to reduce the price of travelling and quick communication have led to a different result, we may infer that the number of cross coaches and short conveyances of all kinds that would be established to bring up passengers and goods to the railway, would at once give employment to these men. We may take as a proof the present posting and travelling upon the road from London to Dover, which was greater in 1829 than ever it was known to be before, although in the same year upwards of 1,000 passengers were conveyed weekly from London to Calais by steam. If indeed there are some persons that will be thrown out of employment for a short time, we must set against this the vast increase of labour that will be given to mechanics and others employed in manufacturing the engines and machines used on railways; for if these works go forward, there will be immediate employment for tens of thousands of labourers, and constant occupation in the workshop for double the number of hands that for a time may be thrown out of work upon the roads or canals. And I would ask, Which is the more important member of the community, the ingenious mechanic or the wandering boatman?

Let us again consider, that we are generating a new power, with the consumption only of a mineral drawn from the bowels of the earth, while we are saving the surface land to produce that sustenance which our increasing population requires. Every horse that is dispensed with, saves the produce that would support six men; and it is calculated that one-third of the grain consumed, is by horses [21]. The immense surface that is now required for the support of cattle may be conjectured, when it is known that in England and Wales alone we have upwards of thirty millions of acres in tillage, and that one acre may grow as much corn as is consumed by three men in a year. And yet we are in the habit of importing a considerable quantity of grain!

It is unnecessary to establish by reasoning what is borne out by facts; and I refer again to the railroad between Liverpool and Manchester, on which goods and merchandise are now taken in one-tenth of the time and at two-thirds of the former cost, and passengers in half the time and at half the former charges by coach. May not the same support be looked for between London, and Birmingham, when the same advantages are offered? May not also the support of Government be expected, when its sanction only is asked to establish such a communication from one side of the kingdom to the other, not a farthing to defray expenses being required from it; at the same time that the capability is offered it, of sending despatches from London to Liverpool in seven hours, or of transporting twenty thousand troops the same distance within twelve hours, in case of need?

Though the capital required is considerable, yet I think the public may be trusted in seeking out their own means of investment; they are in fact only carrying that principle to the establishment of an improved conveyance at the cost of an old one, (an improvement in which many of them are deeply interested,) upon which in their manufactories they constantly act, when a machine that costs 100l. is supplanted by one that may cost 500l., but which is found to perform ten times the work. Why, I ask, may not 3,000 individuals associate themselves together to apply to a public undertaking the mechanical power which they have found so advantageous in their private establishments? Why not extend to the purpose of locomotion the power which has raised the manufactures of Great Britain and Ireland to their present high state of improvement? I would ask those who oppose its extension to this new purpose, whether the mechanical agencies of this kingdom, now amounting to the physical force of ten times the population of England, would ever have been called into action if the application of known powers and principles to fresh purposes and uses had not at all times met with the fullest support of the Legislature and the Public?

I would ask again, Whether the steam power that has been generated within the last fifteen years, for propelling vessels exceeding the whole physical force of the British navy, would have had birth, had the principle been acted upon, of things remaining as they are?

March 4th, 1831.