s of a Carrier, but he was hampered by want of
money. Mr. Baxendale helped him with capital, and for a time remained a
sleeping partner; but finding that the business made no progress,
principally for want of management, he eventually determined to take the
active part in working and managing the concern.

He threw his whole energies into the firm of Pickford and Co. He
reorganized the agencies, and extended them throughout the kingdom. He
put flying vans upon the road, equal to our express trains; and slow
vans, equal to our goods trains. He utilized the canals to a large
extent, putting on flying boats between all the larger towns. Indeed the
roads of the country were then so bad, that in certain seasons it was
almost impossible to convey merchandize from one part of the country to
another.

The carrying on of such an important and extensive business required
much capital, great energy, and first-rate business management. The
horses necessary to carry on the traffic were increased from about
fifty, which they were in the time of Pickford, to more than a thousand;
for relays of horses were necessary at all the stopping-places on the
line of traffic, between London and Manchester, between London and
Exeter, and between London and Edinburgh. A ship-building yard was
established, where all the boats, flying and slow, required to carry on
the business, were constructed at Mr. Baxendale's expense.

The carrying business required a great deal of personal supervision.
Only a man of determined spirit and indomitable energy could have done
it. He had a flying boat in which he rapidly passed along the canals,
seeing that the men were at their posts, that the agents were at work,
and the traffic duly provided for. He did this by night as well as by
day. At other times, he would fly along the roads in his special
travelling carriage,--always paying the highest prices to the
innkeepers, in order that he might secure the best horses, and avoid
delay and loss of time. He would overtake his vans, and see that his men
were sober, and that they were well forward at the stations along the
road; that their blunderbusses were loaded (for highway robbery was then
one of the risks of travelling by road), that the agents were doing
their duty, and that everything was in proper order.

Besides overtaking the vans, he would sometimes travel by a by-road--for
he knew nearly every road in the country--push on, and then double back
upon his dr