examined the merits of the line which he has adopted, or whether he
has thrown himself into it upon the assurances of others, and the mere
expectations of a premium? If the former, let him hold. We war with no
man's deliberate judgment; and that there are many projected lines in
Great Britain which must ultimately be carried, and which will prove
most profitable to the shareholders, is beyond all manner of doubt.
Whether they may receive the sanction of the legislature so soon as
the proprietor expects, is a very different question. But if the
latter, his case is far otherwise. We have seen the prospectus of
several of the most gigantic schemes now in the market, by means of
which the whole length of England is to be traversed, and these have
undergone no further survey than the application of a ruler to a
lithographic map, and a trifling transplantation of the principal
towns, so as to coincide with the direct and undeviating rail. There
is hardly a sharebroker in the kingdom who is not cognisant of this
most flagrant fact; and by many of them the impudent impositions have
been returned with the scorn which such conduct demands. It is hardly
possible to conceive that these schemes were ever intended to meet the
eye of Parliament; but, if not, why were they ever started? The
reflection is a very serious one for those who have deposited their
money.

Such projects, of course, are the exceptions, and not the rule. Still,
their existence, and the support which they have unthinkingly
obtained, are very lamentable symptoms of the recklessness which
characterises the present impulse. Were the tone of commercial
enterprise healthy, and kept within due bounds, there would be nothing
of this; neither should we hear, as we do every day, of shares which,
immediately after their allocation, attain an enormous premium, and,
after having fluctuated for a week or two, subside to something like
their real value.

Are we then justified or not in saying, that it is the imperative duty
of the legislature to look to this question of capital; that it is
bound to see that the country does not pledge itself so utterly beyond
its means; and that the advance of the railway system must be made
slow and steady, in order to render its basis secure?

But there is another point beyond this. Supposing that all our remarks
on the subject of capital were erroneous, and that our financial views
were as puerile as we believe them to be strictly sound-