was engaged in carrying on the works of the
Midland Railway in the neighbourhood of Chesterfield, several seams of
coal were cut through in the Claycross Tunnel, and it occurred to him
that if mines were opened out there, the railway would provide the means
of a ready sale for the article in the midland counties, and as far south
as even the metropolis itself.

At a time when everybody else was sceptical as to the possibility of
coals being carried from the midland counties to London, and sold there
at a price to compete with those which were seaborne, he declared his
firm conviction that the time was fast approaching when the London market
would be regularly supplied with north-country coals led by railway. One
of the greatest advantages of railways, in his opinion was that they
would bring iron and coal, the staple products of the country, to the
doors of all England. "The strength of Britain," he would say, "lies in
her iron and coal beds; and the locomotive is destined, above all other
agencies, to bring it forth. The Lord Chancellor now sits upon a bag of
wool; but wool has long ceased to be emblematical of the staple commodity
of England. He ought rather to sit upon a bag of coals, though it might
not prove quite so comfortable a seat. Then think of the Lord Chancellor
being addressed as the noble and learned lord _on the coal-sack_! I am
afraid it wouldn't answer, after all."

To one gentleman he said: "We want from the coal-mining, the
iron-producing and manufacturing districts, a great railway for the
carriage of these valuable products. We want, if I may so say, a stream
of steam running directly through the country, from the North to London,
and from other similar districts to London. Speed is not so much an
object as utility and cheapness. It will not do to mix up the heavy
merchandise and coal trains with the passenger trains. Coal and most
kinds of goods can wait; but passengers will not. A less perfect road
and less expensive works will do well enough for coal trains, if run at a
low speed; and if the line be flat, it is not of much consequence whether
it be direct or not. Whenever you put passenger trains on a line, all
the other trains must be run at high speeds to keep out of their way.
But coal trains run at high speeds pull the road to pieces, besides
causing large expenditure in locomotive power; and I doubt very much
whether they will pay after all; but a succession of long coal trains,