ormer evidence, that you anticipated that passengers
would be carried at one-half the rate by your steam-carriages that they
are by the common carriages; what difference in the ordinary expences of
carriage would it make, if you had a paved road for this purpose?

"I think it would reduce the expense to one-half again."

"To what velocity could you increase your present rate of travelling with
your engine?"

"I have stated that the velocity is limited by practical experience only;
theoretically it is limited only by quantity of steam. Twelve miles, I
think, we could keep up steadily, and run with great safety. The extreme
rate that we have run, is between twenty and thirty miles an hour."

"What is the greatest number of passengers you have taken on that
carriage?"

"Thirty-six passengers and their luggage. The greatest weight we could
draw by that carriage, at the rate of ten miles an hour, is from forty to
fifty hundred-weight. The greatest weight we ever drew on the common road,
at a rate of from five to six miles an hour, was eleven tons. We made the
experiment on the Bristol road. The weight of the drawing carriage was
upwards of two tons; it drew five times its own weight. The eleven tons
included the weight of the drawing carriage, and I did not consider that
its maximum power."

In a very scientific and interesting Treatise on Locomotion, by Mr
Alexander Gordon, a civil engineer of eminence, we find an account given
of the trial of power alluded to by Mr Gurney. A pair of three feet wheels
were used on the hind axle, and the engine drew with ease a large waggon
loaded with cast-iron. After going about a mile and a quarter, a cart also
loaded with cast-iron was attached to the waggon. The engine started with
these loaded carriages, and returned to Gloucester. The additional weight
made so little apparent difference to the engine, that on the way back
several persons among the spectators got up and rode; the number
altogether amounted to twenty-six. The united weight amounted to ten tons.
Going into Gloucester, there is a rise of one foot in twenty, or
twenty-five.

Two great objections were advanced by the opponents of the proposed
innovation, which are most emphatically answered by the Report of the
Committee of 1834. Even in 1831, the Committee reported as follows:--

"It has frequently been urged against these carriages, that wherever they
may be introduced, they must effectually prevent all other trav