can
afford to look upon the comfort and convenience of passengers as a
secondary consideration.

It is but fair to state that in one celebrated instance neither engineers
nor railway contractors were to blame. From St. Petersburg to Moscow the
locomotive runs for a distance of 400 miles, almost as "the crow" is
supposed to fly, turning neither to the right hand nor to the left. For
fifteen weary hours the passenger in the express train looks out on
forest and morass and rarely catches sight of human habitation. Only
once he perceives in the distance what may be called a town; it is Tver
which has been thus favoured, not because it is a place of importance,
but simply because it happened to be near the straight line. And why was
the railway constructed in this extraordinary fashion? For the best of
all reasons--because the Tsar so ordered it. When the preliminary survey
was being made, Nicholas learned that the officers intrusted with the
task--and the Minister of Ways and Roads in the number--were being
influenced more by personal than by technical considerations, and he
determined to cut the Gordian knot in true Imperial style. When the
Minister laid before him the map with the intention of explaining the
proposed route, he took a ruler, drew a straight line from the one
terminus to the other, and remarked in a tone that precluded all
discussion, "You will construct the line so!" And the line was so
constructed--remaining to all future ages, like St. Petersburg and the
Pyramids, a magnificent monument of autocratic power.

Formerly this well-known incident was often cited in whispered philippics
to illustrate the evils of the autocratic form of government. Imperial
whims, it was said, override grave economic considerations. In recent
years, however, a change seems to have taken place in public opinion, and
some people now venture to assert that this so-called Imperial whim was
an act of far-seeing policy. As by far the greater part of the goods and
passengers are carried the whole length of the line, it is well that the
line should be as short as possible, and that branch lines should be
constructed to the towns lying to the right and left. Apart from
political considerations, it must be admitted that a great deal may be
said in support of this view.

In the development of the railway system there has been another
disturbing cause, which is not likely to occur to the English mind. In
England, individua