In England the steam-
dragon had begun by killing one of his keepers, and was distrusted by
most English people, who still preferred post-horses and stage-coaches--
all the good old ways beloved by hostel-keepers, Tony Welters, postilions
and pot-boys. There was something fearful, supernatural, almost profane
and Providence-defying in this new, swift, wild, and whizzing mode of
conveyance. Churchmen and Tories were especially set against it; yet I
have been told that later, that Prince of conservatives, F. M., the Duke
of Wellington, did, on the occasion of one of Her Majesty's
_accouchements_ travel from London to Windsor, at the rate of
seventy-five miles an hour, in order to be in at the birth! What were the
perils of Waterloo to this daring, dizzying journey?
Just a month before the Queen's marriage there occurred in London a union
yet more auspicious, not alone for England, but for all Christendom. It
was the wedding, by act of Parliament, of Knowledge and Humanity in the
cheap postage reform--carried through with wonderful ability, energy,
persistence, and pluck by Rowland Hill; blessed be his memory. The Queen
afterwards knighted him, but he did not need the honor, though I doubt
not it was pleasant, coming from her hands.
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