tators. The completion of the railway was justly
regarded as an important national event, and the opening was celebrated
accordingly. The Duke of Wellington, then Prime Minister, Sir Robert
Peel, and Mr. Huskisson, one of the members for Liverpool, were among the
number of distinguished public personages present.

Eight locomotive engines, constructed at the Stephenson works, had been
delivered and placed upon the line, the whole of which had been tried and
tested weeks before, with perfect success. The several trains of
carriages accommodated in all about six hundred persons. The procession
was cheered in its progress by thousands of spectators--through the deep
ravine of Olive Mount; up the Sutton incline; over the great Sankey
viaduct, beneath which a great multitude of persons had
assembled,--carriages filling the narrow lanes, and barges crowding the
river; the people below gazing with wonder and admiration at the trains
which sped along the line, far above their heads, at the rate of some 24
miles an hour.

At Parkside, about 17 miles from Liverpool, the engines stopped to take
in water. Here a deplorable accident occurred to one of the illustrious
visitors, which threw a deep shadow over the subsequent proceedings of
the day. The "Northumbrian" engine, with the carriage containing the
Duke of Wellington, was drawn up on one line, in order that the whole of
the trains on the other line might pass in review before him and his
party. Mr. Huskisson had alighted from the carriage, and was standing on
the opposite road, along which the "Rocket" was observed rapidly coming
up. At this moment the Duke of Wellington, between whom and Mr.
Huskisson some coolness had existed, made a sign of recognition, and held
out his hand. A hurried but friendly grasp was given; and before it was
loosened there was a general cry from the bystanders of "Get in, get in!"
Flurried and confused, Mr. Huskisson endeavoured to get round the open
door of the carriage, which projected over the opposite rail; but in so
doing he was struck down by the "Rocket," and falling with his leg
doubled across the rail, the limb was instantly crushed. His first
words, on being raised, were, "I have met my death," which unhappily
proved true, for he expired that same evening in the parsonage of Eccles.
It was cited at the time as a remarkable fact, that the "Northumbrian"
engine, driven by George Stephenson himself, conveyed the wounded body of
the