RAILROADS, 499 



the House of Peers could be annihilated, would be much greater than 

 is usually supposed. The consequences of so severe and protracted a 

 struggle would necessarily be of a frightful nature. 



These are the considerations which chiefly weigh with us in our 

 deprecation of an actual collision between the Houses of Parliament, 

 and which lead us to intercede for one opportunity more of saving itself 

 being afforded to the Upper House. But if the Peers — still perversely 

 obstinate in refusing equal rights and equal laws to Ireland, or in acting 

 in defiance of the wishes of the people of England — should fail to profit 

 by the forbearance extended to them, then, we say, the fault will be 

 their own, and they must next year abide the consequences. 



HINTS ON RAILROAD SCHEMES. 



No person can fail to observe the great excitement that prevails 

 in the country on the subject of railroads. The rapid succession with 

 which these great and expensive undertakings have been brought for- 

 ward is certainly unparalleled in the history of civil engineering; and 

 the eagerness displayed by capitalists in supporting them, with a view 

 of course to ultimate gain of no inconsiderable amount, can only be 

 equalled by that of the South Sea bubble, and the Joint Stock Com- 

 pany excitement of 1824-5. It is not our intention in the following 

 observations, which are submitted for the serious consideration of our 

 readers, to work on their passions, to foster the hopes of the more 

 sanguine by depicting in bright colours the social and political ad- 

 vantages resulting from such schemes, or to strengthen the fears of 

 the alarmists by dwelling exclusively on the darker side of the pic- 

 ture, and stating their probable results in national ruin and bank- 

 ruptcy. It is our wish rather to confine ourselves to a few practical 

 observations on the subject, that may enable our readers to form an 

 opinion on the relative merits of different railways, and to conclude 

 ^ with a few general remarks on the present inconveniences and ulti- 

 mate benefits derivable from the establishment of a general railway 

 communication throughout England. 



It is almost needless to state that railways are no new speculation, 

 no new invention of engineering skill ; for in the coal and mining 

 districts iron railways have been in use for nearly forty years. 

 Not to the roads then, but to the carriages adopted for the convey- 

 ance of goods and to the propelling power now in use on the roads, 

 must the reputation of novelty be confined. But at the same time 

 the application of steam has given to the railways an entirely new 

 character, and raised them to an importance that they could not as- 

 sume befc re. The first attempt at the application of high-pressure 

 steam power to railway conveyance was made by Messrs. Trevithick 

 and Vivian, so early as 1804, on the Merthyr railroad, in South 

 Wales, and with a success that at the time was considered quite tri- 



