rity of the branch itself. The case, however, is widely
different when a new and important source of industry and income is
suddenly developed in the country.

We shall look back in vain over our past history to find any parallel
at all approaching to the present state and prospects of the railway
system. Forty-four years have elapsed since the first public railway
in Great Britain (the Wandsworth and Croydon) received the sanction of
the legislature. Twenty-five years afterwards, at the close of 1826,
when the Manchester and Liverpool bill was passed, the whole number of
railroad acts amounted to thirty-five: in 1838 it had increased to one
hundred and forty-two. The capital of these railways, with the sums
which the proprietors were authorized to borrow, cannot be taken at
less than SIXTY MILLIONS STERLING.

Now, it is very instructive to remark, that until the opening of the
Liverpool and Manchester line in September 1830, not one single
railway was constructed with a view to the conveyance of passengers.
The first intention of the railway was to provide for the carriage of
goods at a cheaper rate than could be effected by means of the canals,
and for the accommodation of the great coal-fields and mineral
districts of England. In the Liverpool and Manchester prospectus--a
species of document not usually remarkable for modesty or shyness of
assumption--the estimate of the number of passengers between these two
great towns was taken at the rate of one half of those who availed
themselves of coach conveyance. Cotton bales, manufactures, cattle,
coals, and iron, were relied on as the staple sources of revenue. Had
it not been for the introduction of the locomotive engine, and the
vast improvements it has received, by means of which we are now
whirled from place to place with almost magical rapidity, there can be
no doubt that the railways would, in most instances, have proved an
utter failure. The fact is singular, but it is perfectly ascertained,
that the railroads have not hitherto materially interfered with the
canals in the article of transmission of goods. The cost of railway
construction is incomparably greater than that attendant on the
cutting of canals, and therefore the land carriage can very seldom,
when speed is not required, compete with the water conveyance. But for
passengers, speed is all in all. The facility and shortness of transit
creates travellers at a ratio of which we probably have as yet no
very