would not
that, think you, be a very awkward circumstance?" "Yaw," replied
Stephenson, in his broad Northumbrian dialect, "ay, awkward--for the
_coo_." On account of his speech Stephenson was denounced as a "foreigner,"
and the bill was thrown out by the committee, by a vote of 37 against 36.
After a second Parliamentary battle, the bill was passed through both
Houses by a majority of forty-seven votes. The passage of the act cost
L27,000.

[Sidenote: Other modern inventions]

[Sidenote: English financial crisis averted]

[Sidenote: Canning's attempted reforms]

Almost coincidentally, Faraday found that benzine was a constituent of
petroleum, a discovery destined to affect the modern construction of
automobile vehicles toward the close of the century. A number of other
achievements made this an important year for science in England. John
Crowther took out a patent for his invention of a hydraulic crane. The
steam jet was first applied to construction work by Timothy Hackworth.
Joseph Clement built a planing machine for iron. One of the earliest chain
suspension bridges was erected at Menai Strait by Thomas Thelford, and at
the same time Brunel sunk his first shaft for the Thames tunnel.
Significant of the industrial revival of those days was the opening of
mechanics' institutes at Exeter and Belfast. In Canada, the newly founded
McGill College was raised to the rank of a university. A financial measure
of far-reaching import was the Bank of England's sudden diminution of its
circulation to the extent of L3,500,000 by the combined exertions of the
bank and of the royal mint. A crisis in public funds was thus averted. The
most important political measure of the year was Canning's attempt to
repeal the political disabilities of the Catholics in England. A bill to
this effect was passed through the Commons, but was thrown out by the House
of Lords. Canning's friend Huskisson inaugurated a commercial policy, which
was founded on the theory of free trade, destined to bring about the repeal
of the corn laws.

[Sidenote: Greek reverses]

[Sidenote: Nauplia and Missolonghi besieged]

[Sidenote: Greece devastated]

The situation in Greece was calculated to stiffen the backbone of Canning's
foreign policy. On February 22, Ibrahim's Egyptian army had crossed the sea
unopposed and overran the Morea. The Greeks were defeated near Nodoni, and
the garrison of Sphakteria was overwhelmed. The forts of Navarino
capitulated. In