Stockton and Darlington) was opened. This Act, although in it the word
_railway_ does not appear, is an important Act to railway companies, and
possesses the singular and uncommon merit of having been framed for the
_protection_ of Common Carriers. It is intituled "_An Act for the more
effectual Protection of Mail Contractors, Stage Coach Proprietors, and
other Common Carriers for Hire, against the Loss or Injury to Parcels or
Packages delivered to them for Conveyance or Custody, the Value and
Contents of which shall not be Declared to them by the Owners thereof_."
The draughtsman of this dignified little Act it is clear was greatly
addicted to _capitals_. Probably he thought they heightened effect, much
as Charles Lamb spelt plum pudding with a _b_--"plumb pudding," because,
he said, "it reads fatter and more suetty." At the time this Act came
into being, railways in the eye of Parliament were public highways, upon
which you or I, if we paid the prescribed tolls, could convey our
traffic, our vehicles, or ourselves. In the years 1838-1840 many of the
companies obtained powers enabling them to act as public carriers; and in
1840 questions having arisen in Parliament as to the rights of the public
in this respect the subject was referred to a Select Committee of the
House of Commons. The Committee's report disposed of the view which,
until then, Parliament had held, and expressed the opinion that the right
of persons to run their own engines and carriages was a dead letter for
the good reason, amongst others, that it was necessary for railway trains
to be run and controlled by and under one complete undivided authority.

After the _Carriers' Act_, which applied to all carriers as well as to
railways, the first general railway Act of importance was the _Railways
(Conveyance of Mails) Act_ of 1838. This Act enabled the
Postmaster-General to require railway companies to convey mails by all
trains and to provide sorting carriages when necessary, the Royal Arms to
be painted on such carriages, and in 1844, under the _Railway Regulation