THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 129 



present occupants being lost in the abyss of inevitable 

 ruin which is now opened for them; when not only 

 posting, and post-horses, but the roads on w^hich they 

 travelled, shall be, with the Turnpike Acts themselves, 

 matter of history — the means of locomotion will be 

 at the mercy of the most merciless of all human beings, 

 —a class, actuated by cupidity, and beyond the reach of 

 that salutary correction, that only security for the 

 pubhc against the abuse of private privilege, — a com- 

 petition. To us, as sportsmen, the intersection of any 

 country by canal, or railroad, furnishes food enough 

 in itself for lamentation ; we bewail the beauty of the 

 district spoiled, and, as an obstacle to our amusement, 

 we denounce the barrier hostile to our sport. It is 

 not, however, in such a hght only that we view the 

 case. We wdlUngly admit, that the diversions of one 

 class in society are but as a feather in the balance, 

 when weighed against the practical utility of any work, 

 tending to the advancement of the general good ; that 

 it is the duty of a Government to promote, to the ut- 

 most, all feasible enterprise and undertaking, proved to 

 be conducive to the interests of the State ; and we 

 reconcile ourselves to any changes which the con- 

 dition of the community to which we belong may de- 

 mand. But when we consider the magnitude of the 

 convulsion which this mighty railroad delusion will 

 effect, the fearful extent of its operation, the thousands 



