768 



RAILWAYS. 



has been owing (o the low rate of wages, a rate 

 which compels the artisans to labour long and dili- 

 gently in order to insure tor their families the 

 scantiest supply of the most common of the neces- 

 saries of life. The capital of the English manu- 

 facturer which empowers him to employ the most 

 perfect machinery, joined to his greater experience, 

 have hitherto enabled him to compete successfully 

 in most branches of skilled labour, but these are 

 advantages which cannot be long retained in com- 

 petition with greatly reduced wages. The profits 

 which the Saxon manufacturers are thence enabled 

 to realize will speedily lead to the introduction of 

 improvements that will place our dearer processes 

 at a still greater disadvantage. 



The want of capital, which has hitherto been 



the chief obstacle to the still greater extension of 

 the cotton manufacture in Saxony, would in time 

 be remedied by the successful operation of the 

 existing establishments, but the manufacturers in 

 that country, unwilling to wait for so gradual a 

 development of their resources, have had recourse 

 to the expedient of establishing joint-stock com- 

 panies. The total capital of associations of this 

 character that have been recently formed, and 

 which are now proceeding to the accomplishment 

 of their various objects, amounted in October, 

 1837, to nearly thirteen millions of dollars, about 

 two millions sterling, a large sum for that country, 

 and the greater part of which is furnished by the 

 bankers and other capitalists of Leipzig.* 



R 



RAILWAYS, (a.) The attention of the public 

 has been recently attracted to the subject of the 

 establishment of a general system of railways in 

 Ireland, and opinion appears to be much divided as 

 to the policy of the government interfering either 

 to promote or regulate this undertaking. The ex- 

 perience of Belgium, the European state which has 

 first adopted a government system of railway com- 

 munication, may throw some light upon the sub- 

 ject, and in some degree tend to the settlement of 

 a question which is of momentous importance to 

 Ireland, and which, in conjunction with other mea- 

 sures at present in operation, holds out the pro- 

 spect of great and lasting improvement to that 

 country. 



Belgium, as we have said, is the first state in 

 Europe which has established a general system of 

 railways, embracing the whole of the kingdom, and 

 planned and executed by the government at the 

 public cost. The project was first put forth in the 

 year 1833, and the object proposed was to unite 

 the principal commercial towns on one side with 

 the sea, and on the other with the frontiers of 

 France and Prussia. In this respect Belgium is 

 most favourably situated for the experiment of a 

 general system of railways : it is of a compact 

 form, of moderate extent, surrounded on three of 

 its sides by active commercial nations, and on the 

 fourth by the sea, which separates it only by a few 

 hours' voyage from England. On its western side 

 are the two large and commodious ports of Ant- 

 werp and Ostend, and its eastern frontier is only a 

 few leagues distant from the Rhine, by which it 

 becomes united to Southern and Midland Europe. 

 Hence it possesses a near market for its produc- 

 tions, and offers many facilities for an extensive 

 transit trade. The nature of the country, also, is 

 most favourable, being generally very flat, and re- 

 quiring but few of those costly works of levelling, 

 tunnelling, and embankment, which have so swollen 

 the expense of similar undertakings in this country. 



The first step which the government took for 

 the accomplishment of its object was, to employ a 

 number of competent engineers to survey the king- 



dom, and to determine the main lines with reference 

 not only to the general features of the country, 

 but also to the interests of the several large towns, 

 and to their internal and foreign relations. On 

 the 1st of May, 1834, a law was passed author- 

 izing the government to carry their project into 

 execution. Mechlin was taken as the centre of 

 the system, with four branches extending from 

 that town, in different directions, to each frontier. 



Northward, to Antwerp. 



Eastward, by Louvain, Liege, and Verviers, to 

 the frontiers of Prussia, whence it was expected 

 that it would be continued by a piivate company 

 to Cologne. 



Southward, through Brussels and the province 

 of Hainault, to the French frontier near Valen- 

 ciennes. 



Westward, by Dendermond, Ghent, and Bruges, 

 to Ostend. 



It appears doubtful whether Brussels orMecliliii 

 is most favourably situated for the central station. 

 The former is the seat of government, and is in a 

 rather more direct line from Ostend, on the west- 

 ern frontier, to the eastern boundary ; but, on the 

 other hand, the line selected through Mechlin 

 passes by more large towns, and the distance be- 

 tween Antwerp and the eastern frontier is rendered 

 much shorter than if the line were carried through 

 Brussels. Other considerations may have tended 

 to influence the choice of the Mechlin line ; but it 

 is understood that regret is beginning to arise that 

 Brussels was not made the centre of the system. 



The total length of the lines projected by the 

 first law was 239j English miles. 



The following sections were opened at the an 

 nexed periods: 



From Mechlin to Brussels . 12-61 miles, on 5th May, 1835. 



Mechlin to Antwerp 14-60 3rd May, 183fi. 



Mechlin to Dendermond 16-59 2nd Jan. 1*:<7. 



Mechlin to Lou vain . 14-76 10th Sep. 1837. 



Louvain to Tirlemont 11-03 22nd Sep. 1837. 



Dendermond to Ghent 18-95 28th Sep. 1837. 



Carry forward 88'54 



* The Progress of the Nation.' by G. R. Porter, Esq. 



