Thus  ended  this  memorable  contest,  which  had
extended  over  two  months— carried  on  throughout
with  great  pertinacity  and  skill,  especially  on  the
part  of  the  opposition,  who  left  no  stone  unturned
to  defeat  the  measure.  The  want  of  a  third  line  of
communication  between  Liverpool  and  Manchester
had  been  clearly'  proved ;  but  the  engineering
evidence  in  sii|>p(»rt  of  the  proposed  railway  having
been  thrown  almost  entirely  upon  Stephenson,  who
fought  this,  the  most  important  part  of  the  battle,
single-handed,  was  not  brought  out  so  clearly  as
it  would  have  been,  had  he  secured  more  efficient
engineering  assistance — which  he  was  not  able  to
do,  as  the  principal  engineers  of  that  day  were
against  the  locomotive  railway.  The  obstacles
thrown  in  the  way  of  the  survey  by  the  landowners
and  canal    companies,   by  which    the  plans  were


204


STEPHENSON  S    DEJECTION


[chap  IX


rendered  exceedingly  imperfect,  also  tended  in  a
great  measure  to  defeat  the  bill.
The  rejection  of  the  bill  was  probably  the  most
severe  trial  George  Stephenson  underwent  in  the
whole  course  of  his  life.  The  circumstances  con-
nected with  the  defeat  of  the  measure^  the  errors
in  the  levels,  his  rigid  cross-examination,  followed
by  the  fact  of  his  being  superseded  by  another
engineer,  all  told  fearfully  upon  him,  and  for
some  time  he  was  as  much  weighed  down  as  if
a  personal  calamity  of  the  most  serious  kind  had
befallen  him.
