deed consummated the Union.

CHAPTER XVII.
ROBERT STEPHENSON'S TUBULAR BRIDGES AT MENAI AND CONWAY.

We have now to describe briefly another great undertaking, begun by
George Stephenson, and taken up and completed by his son, in the course
of which the latter carried out some of his greatest works--we mean the
Chester and Holyhead Railway, completing the railway connection with
Dublin, as the Newcastle and Berwick line completed the connection with
Edinburgh. It will thus be seen how closely Telford was followed by the
Stephensons in perfecting the highways of their respective epochs; the
former by means of turnpike-roads, and the latter by means of railways.

George Stephenson surveyed a line from Chester to Holyhead in 1838, and
at the same time reported on the line through North Wales to Port
Dynllaen, proposed by the Irish Railway Commissioners. His advice was
strongly in favour of adopting the line to Holyhead, as less costly and
presenting better gradients. A public meeting was held at Chester, in
January, 1839, in support of the latter measure, at which he was present
to give explanations. Mr. Uniacke, the Mayor, in opening the
proceedings, said that Mr. Stephenson was present, ready to answer any
questions which might be put to him on the subject; and it was
judiciously remarked that "it would be better that he should be asked
questions than required to make a speech; for, though a very good
engineer, he was a bad speaker." One of the questions then put to Mr.
Stephenson related to the mode by which he proposed to haul the passenger
carriages over the Menai Suspension Bridge by horse power; and he was
asked whether he knew the pressure the bridge was capable of sustaining.
His answer was, that "he had not yet made any calculations; but he
proposed getting data which would enable him to arrive at an accurate
calculation of the actual strain upon the bridge during the late gale.
He had, however, no hesitation in saying that it was more than twenty
times as much as the strain of a train of carriages and a locomotive
engine. The only reason why he proposed to convey the carriages over by
horses, was in order that he might, by distributing the weight, not
increase the wavy motion. All the train would be on at once; but
distributed. This he thought better than passing them, linked together,
by a locomotive engine." It will thus be observed that the
practicability of throwing a rigid railway bridge