REVERIES ON RAIL-ROADS. 45 



successful application, so flattering to the mathematical vanity of the 

 engineer or, in the high rate of returns on the capital invested, so 

 captivating to the feelings of the shareholder but in its operation 

 on the social system, in its most extended signification, that the true 

 political economist will estimate the utility of the invention. We 

 live in an age in which the dominion of man over physical nature is 

 daily and hourly extended by the genius of our artists ; and yet, 

 strange to say, the social condition of the mass of our population 

 degenerates in an inverse ratio. 



This is the theme of daily observation ; while the cause, which 

 appears to elude the grasp of philosophic research, lies much nearer 

 the surface than is generally imagined. The fact is, our chemical 

 and mechanical discoveries have advanced faster than is consistent 

 with the welfare of society ; or, in other words, the moral culture of 

 the species has not kept pace with the increase of its material power 

 the equilibrium has been destroyed. Hence the fruitful source of evil ; 

 an evil which the immediate and general introduction of rail-roads, 

 by suddenly and to such an extent diminishing the demand for 

 human labour, will increase to a hundred-fold. 



Let us, therefore, calmly examine the working of this system 

 on the very narrow field that it yet presents to our observation. 

 Previous to the establishment of the railways between Manchester 

 and Liverpool, the communication between the two towns was car- 

 ried on by a turnpike-road and by two canals. On the former there 

 were from thirty to forty stage-coaches, besides carts, waggons, and 

 other conveyances. On the latter it was computed that the quantity 

 of merchandize passing daily between these two places amounted to 

 1000 tons, the freight of which produced the annual sum of 

 300,000, two-thirds of which fell to the share of the Marquis of 

 Stafford. Now, by the report of the Rail-road Committee, it appears 

 that the returns upon the capital invested amounts to eight per cent.; 

 from this, however, must be deducted the value of the property 

 destroyed viz. the turnpike-road ; still, as the rail-road has not 

 been found to diminish the traffic hitherto carried on by the 

 canals, in this instance the rail-road system may be said to have 

 been successively and beneficially applied. But, however success- 

 ful may have been the results of this first scheme, it is compara- 

 tively upon a small scale ; and the question is now, whether from such 

 data an argument can be found of sufficient strength to justify their 

 unlimited adoption throughout the country. We are the last in the 

 world to offer a check to the advance of the age ; but when the whole 

 social relations of the country are staked on the hazard of a die when 

 the destinies of a country seem about to be wielded by speculations, it 

 becomes the duty of those that think, at least, to offer the result of 

 such thought to their fellow-countrymen ; and in this we repeat let 

 us not be mistaken our object is to inculcate caution, but not distrust. 



One great principle, as applicable to the whole system, has been 

 fully established, and that is the practicability of the application of 

 steam to the purposes of locomotion; and, further, that the application 

 of this power affords those grand desiderata in travelling safety and 

 expedition. But it is not enough to shew that they can convey goods 



