34 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



ssnce of that influx, must have been produced by the 

 large remittances of gold to the seat of war, rendering 

 nugatory the Bank Charter restrictions of 1841, and 

 even endangered the maiuteiianco of the Act of 1819. 



Whilst the losses of the middle classes in 1848 and 

 1849, by railway investments and speculations, limited 

 the consumption of commodities on the one hand, the 

 distributionof the money so lost amongst the working 

 classes acted as a compensating balance ; the latter 

 being thereby enabled to command a larger share of 

 the necessaries and comforts of life than at any previous 

 period during the present century. 



The three grand causes comprised in the above sum- 

 mary, before which all others sink into insignificance, 

 are the railway system, the gold discoveries, and the 

 increased facilities of iziter-communication between 

 distant countries by steam navigation and the electric 

 telegraph. 



With regard to the first of these causes, notwith- 

 standing the enormous losses sustained by the middle 

 class, thousands being involved in ruin, the consequences, 

 so far as trade was concerned, were largely alleviated 

 and counterbalanced by the more extensive distribution 

 of the money so lost amongst the operative classes, who 

 were thereby enabled to purchase more of the necessaries 

 and comforts of life than at any former period. However 

 severe, therefore, the losses were to individuals, the 

 money was not lost either to the nation or to commerce. 

 In this respect, '.lie railway speculation of 1848-50 was 

 very different and far le^s injurious to the country than 

 the foreign mining speculations which preceded and so 

 greatly accelerated the panic of 1825. In that case, 

 millions were wholly lost both to individuals aad to the 

 country, and the consequences were felt for many years 

 after, by the commerce of the country. The railway 

 speculation, on the contrary, only caused capital to 

 change hands ; and instead of being locked up ia secu- 

 rities barren of commercial profits, became diffused 

 throughout the country in hands that always make 

 the best commercial use of it, by expending it in the 

 necessaries of life. And besides, the dbjecis of specula- 

 tion, the railways, still remained as national property ; 

 although the original shareholders no longer pos- 

 sessed an interest in them, tUe new holders, who had 

 purchased them at reduced prices, find them available 

 property, whilst the country at large is benefited both 

 by the outlay of the money aad from the facilities created 

 by their establishment. The nation therefore, we repeat, 

 sustained no loss, either in its wealth or commerce, by 

 the railway speculations, the whole of the property lost 

 by individuals being still retained in the country, more 

 widely diffused and more freely circulated. 



Of the gold discoveries we shall have occasion to 

 speak at large, when we come to the consideration of 

 part 7 and appendix 22 to 33, 



With regard to the third cause, there is no doubt of 

 its effect upon prices wherever their operatic influence 

 extends. By steam navigation the produce of our 

 country is conveyed to another in much less than one- 

 half the ti'jae required in former days by sailing vessels, 

 and thus the wants of a country are supplied in a pro- 



portionately diminished space of time. On the other 

 hand, the electric telegraph will tend more than ever, 

 or than any other cause, to produce equality of prices, 

 by the instantaneous communication from one country 

 to another of the state of, and changes in, the markets. 

 Thus, when the Atlantic telegraph cable is laid down 

 and completed between London and New York, the 

 corn-merchant at Mark Lane market will be able 

 by the help of the telegraph-office, already prepared 

 in the market, to learn, during the business hours, the 

 actual price of corn or flour in America at the instant j* 

 and, vice versa, the same with the merchant at New 

 York. Such a means of information cannot fail, 

 wherever it is established, of producing an instantaneous 

 influence upon prices, and will inevitably tend eventually 

 to as perfect an equalization of price, allowing for the 

 cost of transit and other expenses of commerce. 



Part 3 contains 13 sections on " The progress of 

 railway construction in the United Kingdom and in 

 foreign countries, from the year 1843 to the present 

 time ; on the effects of the great railway expenditure of 

 1845-50 ; and on the operation of railway transit on the 

 supply and consumption, and therefore on the prices, of 

 commodities." 



The gross expenditure on railways up to the close of 

 1855, in the United Kingdom, amounted in round num. 

 bers to 300 millions sterling ; fully half of which was 

 incurred in the five years from 1846 to 1850 inclusive. 

 And of- the 8,300 miles of railway open and at work at 

 the close of 1855, fully one-half Vv-ere completed and 

 brought into operation for the first time during those 

 five years. The traffic receipts have already exceeded 

 22 millions sterling per year. 



In looking over the sections of this part, we have been 

 forcibly struck with the proofs adduced of thp immense 

 advantages that have accrued to this, as well as other 

 countries, from the establishment of the railway system. 

 Whether we look at the vast number of hands employed 

 permanently— equal to all the hands employed in all the 

 factories of this kingdom — the facilities afforded to the 

 people, either for the pursuit of business or pleasure — 

 the saving of time, labour, and capital to the country 

 tradesmen throughout the kingdom — the general conve- 

 nience afforded for the enjoyment of personal intercourse 

 with distant friends — or the universal happiness diffused 

 by the increased and cheap acquisition of postal commu. 

 nication — the railway system may be viewed as one of 

 the greatest boons to the nation. Whatever losses 

 may have been sustained by shareholders through the 

 mismanagement or dishonesty of projectors or directors, 

 we may look forward with certainty to a period, not far 

 distant, when ample remuneration on every principal 

 line in the kingdom will make amends to the nation for 

 the fiery ordeal through which the system has led it. 



Part 4 embraces 21 sections on the subject of " Free- 



» Afew weeks ago all the telegraphs in I he kingdom were stopped 

 for one r.isht, and their wires so united as to form a continuous 

 «ire of 2,O0ii miles in length, the t^vo termini being brought into 

 the telegraph- ofBce in Moorgate- street. A message was then 

 repeatedly sent from one to the other, which, travelling the whole 

 length oi' the 2,000 miles, occupied not one-hall the time it has 

 taken us to write this account of it. We believe this was dona 

 as a (est, preparatory Iq laying down tlie Atlantic telegraph. 



