cause we propose to confer upon him the
benefits of a railroad.'"

Such being the opposition of the owners of land, it was with the greatest
difficulty that an accurate survey of the line could be made. At one
point the vigilance of the landowners and their servants was such, that
the surveyors were effectually prevented taking the levels by the light
of day; and it was only at length accomplished at night by means of dark
lanterns. There was one clergyman, who made such alarming demonstrations
of his opposition, that the extraordinary expedient was resorted to of
surveying his property during the time he was engaged in the pulpit.
This was managed by having a strong force of surveyors in readiness to
commence their operations, who entered the clergyman's grounds on one
side the moment they saw him fairly off them on the other. By a
well-organised and systematic arrangement each man concluded his allotted
task just as the reverend gentleman concluded his sermon; so that, before
he left the church, the deed was done, and the sinners had all decamped.
Similar opposition was offered at many other points, but ineffectually.
The laborious application of Robert Stephenson was such, that in
examining the country to ascertain the best line, he walked the whole
distance between London and Birmingham upwards of twenty times.

When the bill went before the Committee of the Commons in 1832, a
formidable array of evidence was produced. All the railway experience of
the day was brought to bear in support of the measure, and all that
interested opposition could do was set in motion against it. The
necessity for an improved mode of communication between London and
Birmingham was clearly demonstrated; and the engineering evidence was
regarded as quite satisfactory. Not a single fact was proved against the
utility of the measure, and the bill passed the Committee, and afterwards
the third reading in the Commons, by large majorities.

It was then sent to the Lords, and went into Committee, when a similar
mass of testimony was again gone through. But it had been evident, from
the opening of the proceedings, that the fate of the bill had been
determined before even a word of the evidence had been heard. At that
time the committees were open to all peers; and the promoters of the bill
found, to their dismay, many of the lords who were avowed opponents of
the measure as landowners, sitting as judges to decide its fate. Their
princi