instances, far greater than
is contained in the modern estimates, and the land which they required
to occupy was procured at extravagant prices. Now it does seem to us
in the highest degree unfair, that the interest of these companies
should be sacrificed for the sake of what is called the "direct"
principle. A saving of twenty or thirty miles between Newcastle and
London, is now thought to be a matter of so much importance as to
justify one or more independent lines, which, despising intermediate
cities and their traffic, still hold their even course as the crow
flies, from point to point, and thereby shorten the transit from the
south to the north of England by--it may be--the matter of an hour. We
did not use to be quite so chary of our minutes: nor, though fully
aware of the value of time, did we ever bestow the same regard upon
the fractional portions of our existence. What the nation requires is
a safe, commodious, and speedy mode of conveyance, and we defy the
veriest streak-of-lightning man to say, that the present companies in
operation do not afford us that to our heart's content. It is but a
very few years ago since we used to glorify ourselves in the rapidity
of the mail-coach, doing its ten miles an hour with the punctuality of
clockwork. Now we have arrived at the ratio of forty within the same
period, and yet we are not content. Next year, within fourteen hours
we shall be transported from Edinburgh to London. That, it seems, is
not enough. A company offers to transport us by a straighter line in
thirteen; and for that purpose they ask leave of the legislature to
construct a rival line at the expense of a few millions! Now, keeping
in mind what we have said as to capital, is not this, in the present
state of things, most wanton prodigality? The same "few millions"--and
we rather suspect they are fewer than is commonly supposed--would open
up counties hitherto untouched by the railway system--would give us
communication through the heart of the Highlands, through the remoter
districts of Wales, through the unvisited nooks of Ireland, and, in so
doing, would minister not only to the wants of the community, but in
an inconceivable degree to the social improvement of the people. Among
the list of proposed schemes for next session, there are many such;
and surely our government, if its functions correspond to the name, is
bound, in the first instance, to give a preference to these;
and--since all cannot be acco