THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAIi. 



15 



Convinced that such will be the case as any mathematician can be of 

 any of the axioms of geometry. 



The recommendations and assumptions of the Irish Railway Com- 

 missioners as to this important question tend eminently to mislead, not 

 only the government of the country, but also the various companies, 

 and the public. But if they had taken the trouble of examining with 

 the least attention the chart of the Atlantic, exhibiting the eastern and 

 western shores of America and Europe, and the map of the British 

 Isles, they never could have fallen into such a gross misconception 

 regarding the best and most direct routes of communicating by steam 

 between London and New York, and also between Bristol and New 

 York. 



Are the Railway Commissionei-s not aware, that by the chart the 

 course from the middle of the western entrance of the English Channel 

 to New York is about W. by S. V and from Cape Clear, in Ireland, it 

 is about W.S. VV. 6J west ? and further, that the middle of the Atlantif 

 entrance of the British Channel, is north of the parallel of New York 

 about 585 miles, Bristol 743 miles, and Cork 775 miles? and that any 

 northing made in sailing from London or Bristol to New York, by calling 

 at Cork, is a dead loss equivalent to double that amount, because a ship 

 has ns much southing again to make by such a deflection from the true 

 and direct course? As to a London, a Bristol, or a Liverpool steamer 

 getting business at Cork to compensate them for such a deviation and 

 delay, is altogether out of the question, particularly looking at the state 

 of the present existing trade in Ireland. The additional supply of fuel 

 which the Commissioners think the Atlantic steamers outward-bound 

 from London would requii'e, and which they recommend should be 

 procured at Cork, it may be observed, in reply, tliat the steam ships 

 even from Londoir can carry quite enough of fuel to carry them from 

 that port to New York, without incurring a loss in northing of nearly 

 200 miles, by calling at Cork ; and that Falmouth, in this respect, 

 would afford the supply much better, if required, and without loss of 

 time or lengthening of the voyage. Looking at the geographical posi- 

 tion of both Liverpool and Br'istol, steamers from tliose ports would 

 stand less need than those of London in calling at Coi-k for fuel. 



It is presumed these observations show there can be no beneficial 

 results from the making of 456 miles of railway through "Wales aud 

 Ireland, costing more than ten millions sterling, in lessening- either the 

 time or expense in going from London or Bristol to New York, by 

 iTiaking Cork the port of departure ; unless it be to involve the unfor- 

 tunate existing executive of Britain in an expense of more than 

 ten millions sterling, and to support one of the most extraordinai-y 

 projects or jobs that ever was proposed, or even ventured to be recom- 

 mended to the government of any free country. Yet it has been so 

 far countenanced by those in power, that augmented salaries and 

 honour's have been bestowed, marking' their approbation of the 

 measure. 



Injustice I deem it right to give the following quotation : — " The 

 Viscount Melbourne and the Chancellor of the Exchequer st.nte to 

 the Boai-d, that whilst they consider the importance of a safe and 

 expeditious line of communication between Londnn and Dublin to be 

 such as to justify the inter-fei-ence of tire pidilic, they ai-e by no means 

 prepared to recommend any survey of a line of railroad. Sevei-al 

 private bills have passed, and works are either in contemplation, or are 

 actually undertaken, upon the successful completion of which a direct 

 lino of railroad from Dirblin to London must depend. They therefore 

 consider that any interposition on the part of the state, even if it were 

 limited to the single object of a survey, would have a tendency of 

 interfering with private entei'prise, and discouraging the applicalion 

 of capital, when it may be required for the general improvement of the 

 country." — Report on Liverpool, Holyhead, and Port DynVaen 

 Harbours, 2\st. Feb, 1837. 



W. 



NATIONAL MONUMENTS. 



Sir, — No one who knew London fifteen years ago but will see with 

 pleasure how much it has been improved since then, especially near 

 Charing-cross, and that truly nuble structure, London-bridge. It 

 would, however, puzzle a foreigner (and it puzzles me who am not 

 one) to account for the incongruity which exists in the names of the 

 principal streets and squai'es, and of the buildings and monuments that 

 are placed near one another. For instance, how comes it that we aro 

 to have a monument of Nelson and Trafalgar-square in front of the 

 National GiiUery ? Had the building been an Admiralty-nfBce, no- 

 thing coidd be more appropriate; but a name bearing refer-ence to the 

 fine arts, and a monument of Hogarth, of Reynolds, or of some other 

 of our famous artists, would have been more fitly applicable to a gal- 

 lery of paintings. If bronze statues should (as they generally do) 

 represent none but princes, warriors, or statesmen, King Charles's 



statue might have been removed further from the scene of his dis- 

 astrous death, and turned towards the immortal woi-ks of the painters 

 he so liberally patronized. 



However, I suppose that, in spite of all that can now be said, Tra- 

 falgar-squai'e will retain its name, and Nelson's statue will be placed 

 there — at the risk of sti'angers to our history who have visited our chief 

 towns (Edinburgh, Dublin, Liverpool, Birmingham, &c.) sup|)osin^ 

 England to have produced so few great men that we have been obliged, 

 in or'der to have statues enough, to make a dozen for each of them. 

 With the Greeks and Romans, our masters in architecture and sculp- 

 tirre, bravery only was virtue, and warriors the greatest of men ; but 

 are we Chrisitians of the same opinion ? Why have we not statues of 

 Bacon, of Locke, of Newton, of Howard, or of King Alfred, in our 

 squares and public places ? or, if we must have soldiers and sailors, 

 why not one of the great and virtuous Cnllingwood — of that warrior 

 who, as a husband, a father, a commander, a patr-iot, and a subject, 

 merits the unalloyed admiration of posterity, and whose whole cha- 

 racter and conduct may well be held up as a pattern worthy of all 

 imitation ? Surely the monument in Trafalgar-squai-e should be 

 dedicated to both the admirals and to their brave companions also — to 

 the men whose patr-iotism was not excited by the hope of immortalizing 

 their names, as well as to those whose narues were in the mouths of 

 friends and enemies, and will be handed down with those of CcBsai', 

 of Hannibal, and of Napoleon. 



With regard to the form of the monument, I would protest against 

 sticking a statite on the top of a column at such a height that it is not 

 to be seen with comfort — unless it be the statueof acocked-hat, a wig, 

 or a pigtail, for then the farther from sight the better. More especially 

 would I protest against a column with an unor-naraented shaft, with a 

 detestable ii-on i-ailing above the abacus, and this supporting- a round- 

 topped sentry-box ; frorii the inside of which the half-naked sentinel 

 appears to have emerged in a fit of melancholy madness, with the in- 

 tention of falling on the pavement below ; when the wind blowing on 

 his shivering carcass and on the clothes that hang about his legs, shall 

 overcome his endeavours to stand upon the slippery convexity, and 

 take his feet from under him. If the Nelson monument is to be a 

 statue on a column — 1st, let the shaft bo ornamented; 2nd, let it not 

 be heavy Doric (fi/w*- English) ; 3rd, let the abacus itself form a stone 

 parapet instead of a railing ; and, 4tli, let the statue stand or appear 

 to stand (from the best points of view) almost immediately above the 

 column, and on a flat surface not much raised from the abacus. Not 

 that I approve of any Stylitic monuments, unless in honour of Simon 

 himself. The Greek column is perfectly unfit for an isolated monu- 

 ment, and i do not know that the Greeks themselves ever made such 

 use of it ; nor yet the Romans, until the time of Trajan, when the 

 arts began to decline. A column has an abacus as a preparation f«ra 

 great weight to be placed above. Without this superincumbent mass 

 it is incomplete and useless; but an isolated monument should be 

 complete in itself, and it should terminate in a point or something 

 nearly appr-oaching one. Pr-ejudice apart, how much more beautiful 

 is the Turkish minaret, the Egyptian obelisk, or a Gothic spire, than 

 a solitai-y Greek column ! For my part, I pr-efer a well-built factory 

 chimney when the smoke curls fi-om its top, and gradually mixing with 

 the air above it, leaves one with nothing to expect. It only wants a 

 well-imagined railing to cari-y the eye gradually from the solidity of 

 the edifice to the lightness of the vapour. 



While so much has been done for the ornament of the city of Lon- 

 don, it is to be lamented that Sir Christopher Wren's monument should 

 still retain its pot of brass flames— the disgrace of English taste — the 

 laughing-stock of all foreigners. It would be infinitely better with a 

 statue ; and whose would be more fitly placed there than that of Wren 

 himself? There would be something like justice in that, and the great 

 builder's ghost could not grumble, even though in another world he 

 has improved his taste, which in this was certainly far inferior to his 

 science and his skill. Yours obediently, 



B. 



IMPROVEMENTS AT AUGSBURG. 



Great activity has prevailed here irr improvements, and it shows that in 

 cultivating tire tirre arts. King Louis does not neglect the useful. An important 

 sluice has been constructed or. the river Lccb, su^iplying a thousand feel of 

 nater in a second, for the use of the factories. The Protestant and Catholic 

 cemeteries have both been enlarged, and the dead houses orrrameuted with 

 Doric favades. The great cotton factory besun in Api-il is roofed in, nnd 

 will contain 30,000 spindles and 800 looms, and is to be worked by water by 

 means of two of Fonvneyron's newly invented Turbines, wliich will give 200 



brc feet of water per second at 15 feet fall. To car-ry oflf the water, a cut is 

 to be made a mile long, ii feet broad, and 12 feet dpcp. A new street has 

 been formed to communicate with the Jakobcr suburb, O'ld the railway to 

 Munich is in a very advwced state, 



