Private Risk, Public Benefit, by Michael Longridge

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Before concluding this letter, it is a duty which I have much pleasure in performing to acknowledge the great assistance which has been afforded to me by George Stephenson, Esq., the Engineer of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway,* in introducing malleable iron Railway bars.

The Stockton and Darlington Railway Company were the first public company who adopted the use of malleable Iron Railway bars,* and this they did after a deliberate examination of the arguments which were urged both in their favour and against them; and with the advice of Mr Stephenson, who was then their Engineer, and who, although interested in favour of cast iron, (being a joint-patentee of the best cast-iron Railway bars then in use,) yet had the candour to recommend the others as superior.*

Believe me, my dear Sir,
Very truly yours,

Michael Longridge.

by Michael Longridge 1785-1858

abridged

From ‘Remarks on the Comparative Merits of Cast Metal and Malleable Iron Railways and an Account of the Stockton and Darlington Railway, and the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, &c.’ (1838) by Michael Longridge (1785-1858). Additional information from ‘History of the First Public Railway (the Stockton and Darlington)’ (1912) by Michael Heavisides.

* The railway, which was the world’s first intercity line, opened in 1830, five years after the S&D opened on September 27th, 1825. See posts tagged Liverpool and Manchester Railway.

* See The Stockton and Darlington Railway.

* In his tale of the Stockton and Darlington Railway’s founding, local historian Michael Heavisides recorded Stephenson’s words: “Cast-iron rails will not stand the weight, there is no wear in them, and you will be at no end of expense for repairs and re-lays.” The sum lost by Stephenson as a result of this quixotic gesture was £500, roughly equivalent to £43,000 in 2021. It was not the only time he put into practice the railway’s motto, privatum periculum utilitas publica (private risk, public benefit): see also The Geordie Lamp.

Précis

Seven years later, continued Longridge, the Stockton and Darlington Railway opened, and George Stephenson made the same choice that he had made. In Stephenson’s case it was especially remarkable, as he had investments in cast iron rails. Nevertheless, he had insisted on wrought iron for the new line, at considerable loss to himself but with great benefit to the public.

Questions for Critics

1. What is the author aiming to achieve in writing this?

2. Note any words, devices or turns of phrase that strike you. How do they help the author communicate his ideas more effectively?

3. What impression does this passage make on you? How might you put that impression into words?

Based on The English Critic (1939) by NL Clay, drawing on The New Criticism: A Lecture Delivered at Columbia University, March 9, 1910, by J. E. Spingarn, Professor of Comparative Literature in Columbia University, USA.

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