At Newcastle, a plan was set on foot for connecting the Tyne with the Solway Firth by a canal. A county meeting was held on the subject in August, 1817, under the presidency of the high sheriff. Previous to this time, Sir John Swinburne had stood up for a railway in preference to a canal; but when the meeting took place, the opinion of those present was in favor of a canal—Mr. William Armstrong (father of the present Sir William) being one of the most zealous advocates of the water-road. Yet there were even then railroads in the immediate neighborhood of Newcastle, at Wylam and Killingworth, which had been successfully and economically worked by the locomotive for years past, but which the Northumbrians seem completely to have ignored. The public head is usually very thick, and it is difficult to hammer a new idea into it. Canals were established methods of conveyance, and were every where recognized; whereas railways were new things, and were struggling hard to gain a footing. Besides, the only public railway in England, the Wandsworth, Croydon, and Merstham, had proved a commercial failure, and was held up as a warning to all speculators in tram-ways. But, though the Newcastle meeting approved of a canal in preference to a railway from the Tyne to the Solway, nothing was really done to promote the formation of either.
The movement in favor of a canal was again revived at Stockton. A requisition, very numerously signed by persons of influence in South Durham, was presented to the Mayor of Stockton in May, 1818, requesting him to convene a public meeting "to consider the expediency of forming a canal for the conveyance of coal, lime, etc., from Evenwood Bridge, near West Auckland, to the River Tees, upon a plan recently made by Mr. George Leatham, engineer." Among the names attached to the petition we find those of Edward, John, and Thomas Pease, and John Dixon, Darlington. They were doubtless willing to pull with any party that would open up a way, whether by rail or by water, between the Bishop Auckland coal-field and Stockton, whether the line passed through Darlington or not.
An enthusiastic meeting was held at Stockton, and a committee was appointed, by whom it was resolved to apply to Parliament for an act to make the intended canal "if funds are forthcoming." Never was there greater virtue in an if. Funds were not forthcoming; the project fell through, and a great blunder was prevented. When the Stockton men had discussed and resolved without any practical result, the leading men of Darlington took up the subject by themselves, determined, if possible, to bring it to some practical issue. In September, 1818, they met under the presidency of Thomas Meynell, Esq. Mr. Overton, who had laid down several coal railways in Wales, was consulted, and, after surveying the district between the Bishop Auckland coal-field and the Tees, sent in his report. Mr. Rennie also was again consulted. Both engineers gave their opinion in favor of a railway by Darlington in preference to a canal by Auckland, "whether taken as a line for the exportation of coal or as one for a local trade." The committee accordingly reported in favor of the railway.
It is curious now to look back at the modest estimate of traffic formed by the committee. They considered that the export trade in coal "might be taken, perhaps, at 10,000 tons a year, which is about one cargo a week!" It was intended to haul the coal by horse-power; a subsequent report stating "on undoubted authority" that one horse of moderate power could easily draw downward on the railway, between Darlington and Stockton, about ten tons, and upward about four tons of loading, exclusively of the empty wagons. No allusion was made to passengers in any of the reports; nor did the committee at first contemplate the accommodation of traffic of this description.
A survey of the line was then ordered, and steps were taken to apply to Parliament for the necessary powers to construct the railway. But the controversy was not yet at an end. Stockton stood by its favorite project of a canal, and would not subscribe a farthing toward the projected railway; but neither did it subscribe toward the canal. The landlords, the road trustees, the carriers, the proprietors of donkeys (by whom coals were principally carried for inland sale), were strenuously opposed to the new project; while the general public, stupid and skeptical, for the most part stood aloof, quoting old saws and keeping their money in their pockets.
Several energetic men, however, were now at the head of the Stockton and Darlington Railway project, and determined to persevere with it. Among these, the Peases were the most zealous. Edward Pease might be regarded as the back-bone of the concern. Opposition did not daunt him, nor failure discourage him. When apparently overthrown and prostrate, he would rise again like Antæus, stronger than before, and renew his efforts with increased vigor. He had in him the energy and perseverance of many men. One who knew him in 1818 said, "He was a man who could see a hundred years ahead." When the author last saw him in 1854, a few years before his death, Mr. Pease was in his eighty-eighth year; yet he still possessed the hopefulness and mental vigor of a man in his prime. Still sound in health, his eye had not lost its brilliancy, nor his cheek its color, and there was an elasticity in his step which younger men might have envied.
EDWARD PEASE.
In getting up a company for surveying and forming a railway, Mr. Pease had great difficulties to encounter. The people of the neighborhood spoke of it as a ridiculous undertaking, and predicted that it would be ruinous to all concerned in it. Even those most interested in the opening up of new markets for the sale of their coal were indifferent, if not hostile. Mr. Pease nevertheless persevered in the formation of a company, and he induced many of his friends and relations to follow his example. The Richardsons and Backhouses, members, like himself, of the Society of Friends, influenced by his persuasion, united themselves with him; and so many of the same denomination (having confidence in these influential Darlington names) followed their example and subscribed for shares, that the railway obtained the designation, which it long retained, of "The Quakers' Line."