hemes were matured, deputations were received, and many
projectors called upon our engineer for the purpose of submitting to him
their plans of railways and railway working. His private secretary at
the time has informed us that at the end of the first Parliamentary
session in which he had been engaged as engineer for more companies than
one, it became necessary for him to give instructions as to the
preparation of the accounts to be rendered to the respective companies.
In the simplicity of his heart, he directed Mr. Binns to take his full
time at the rate of ten guineas a day, and charge the railway companies
in the proportion in which he had been actually employed on their
respective business during each day. When Robert heard of this
instruction, he went directly to his father and expostulated with him
against this unprofessional course; and, other influences being brought
to bear upon him, George at length reluctantly consented to charge as
other engineers did, an entire day's fee to each of the Companies for
which he was concerned whilst their business was going forward; but he
cut down the number of days charged for and reduced the daily amount from
ten to seven guineas.

Besides his journeys at home, Mr. Stephenson was on more than one
occasion called abroad on railway business. Thus, at the desire of King
Leopold, he made several visits to Belgium to assist the Belgian
engineers in laying out the national lines of that kingdom. That
enlightened monarch at an early period discerned the powerful
instrumentality of railways in developing a country's resources, and he
determined at the earliest possible period to adopt them as the great
high-roads of the nation. The country, being rich in coal and minerals,
had great manufacturing capabilities. It had good ports, fine navigable
rivers, abundant canals, and a teeming, industrious population. Leopold
perceived that railways were eminently calculated to bring the industry
of the country into full play, and to render the riches of the provinces
available to the rest of the kingdom. He therefore openly declared
himself the promoter of public railways throughout Belgium. A system of
lines was projected, at his instance, connecting Brussels with the chief
towns and cities of the kingdom; extending from Ostend eastward to the
Prussian frontier, and from Antwerp southward to the French frontier.

Mr. Stephenson and his son, as the leading railway-engineers of Engla