“Worth makes the man, the want of it the fellow.”
For without the worth he never would have been the fellow. Probably had Mr. Ramsbottom been a Member of Parliament, he might have hereditary honours by this time. But ere long there will be fresh agitation for distribution of seats, notwithstanding the anger of the _Quarterly Review_ of October, 1867, at the “Conservative Surrender.” Then will be the time for Crewe to put forward its claims to have its bone, its sinew, its muscle, its manly vigour, and Titanic power represented. Who more worthy to represent it than the present semi-sovereign prince who sways, with nearly omnipotent power, 157½ miles from the supreme and sovereign authority at Euston? Add Barrow-in-Furness, and then “King Iron” would make his thunder heard in St. Stephens!
Crewe, although pre-eminently the great locomotive city of the empire, is far from being the only one. Next in importance to it is Swindon, at which are located all the great engineering works of the Great Western Company; it is seventy-eight miles from London, on the main line, which leads on the left to Bristol, Exeter, Plymouth, and the whole extreme South-Western parts of England; on the right to Gloucester, and thence to South Wales. The Great Eastern locomotive works are at Stratford, four miles from London; those of the Great Northern at Doncaster, 157 miles. The Midland, the latest addition to the number of railways having their termini in London, have their shops at Derby, 120 miles from London. Crossing the Thames, we find the South-Western locomotive shops at Nine Elms, within half-a-mile of those of the London, Chatham and Dover, at Long Hedge, Battersea. The London, Brighton and South Coast works are at Brighton, fifty-two miles from London. Finally, those of the South-Eastern are at Ashford, the junction point whence, besides the main line to Folkstone and Dover, one branch runs to the left to accommodate Canterbury, Deal, Margate, and Ramsgate, another to the right extends to St. Leonards and Hastings; Ashford is sixty-seven miles from London. The largest railway company in England, the terminus of which is not in London, is the North-Eastern; in mileage it ranks third, being only exceeded by the London and North-Western and the Great Western. Its locomotive shops are at York; those of the Caledonian Company are near Glasgow. The two railway companies of longest dimensions in Ireland, the Great Southern and Western and the Midland Great Western, have their workshops respectively at Inchicore and at Broadstone; both these places are suburbs of Dublin. There are more than 20,000 skilled workmen and their apprentices employed in the engine repairing and constructing factories belonging to the railway companies of the United Kingdom.