And this state of things will probably continue until the fatal defect of government by Boards—an extremely limited responsibility, or no responsibility at all—has been rectified by the appointment, as in France, of executives consisting of a few men of special ability and trained administrative skill, personally responsible to their constituents for the due performance of their respective functions. But the discussion of this subject would require a treatise, whereas we are now but writing a preface.
Whatever may be said of the financial mismanagement of railways, there can be no doubt as to the great benefits conferred by them on the public wherever made. Even those railways which have exhibited the most "frightful examples" of scheming and financing, so soon as placed in the hands of practical men to work, have been found to prove of unquestionable public convenience and utility. And notwithstanding all the faults and imperfections that are alleged against railways have been admitted, we think that they must, nevertheless, be recognized as by far the most valuable means of communication between men and nations that has yet been given to the world.
The author's object in publishing this book in its original form, some ten years since, was to describe, in connection with the "Life of George Stephenson," the origin and progress of the railway system, and to show by what moral and material agencies its founders were enabled to carry their ideas into effect, and to work out results which even then were of a remarkable character, though they have since, as above described, become so much more extraordinary. The favor with which successive editions of the book have been received has justified the author in his anticipation that such a narrative would prove of general, if not of permanent interest, and he has taken pains, in preparing for the press the present, and probably final edition, to render it, by careful amendment and revision, more worthy of the public acceptance.
London, May, 1868.
[PREFACE]
TO THE EIGHTH EDITION, 1864.
The following is a revised and improved edition of "The Life of George Stephenson," with which is incorporated a Memoir of his son Robert, late President of the Institute of Civil Engineers. Since its original appearance in 1857, much additional information has been communicated to the author relative to the early history of Railways and the men principally concerned in establishing them, of which he has availed himself in the present edition.
In preparing the original work for publication, the author enjoyed the advantage of the cordial co-operation and assistance of Robert Stephenson, on whom he mainly relied for information as to the various stages through which the Locomotive passed, and especially as to his father's share in its improvement. Through Mr. Stephenson's instrumentality also, the author was enabled to obtain much valuable information from gentlemen who had been intimately connected with his father and himself in their early undertakings—among others, from Mr. Edward Pease, of Darlington; Mr. Dixon, C.E.; Mr. Sopwith, F.R.S.; Mr. Charles Parker; and Sir Joshua Walmsley.