BAILWAYS. 241 



mended by all writers on political eco- 

 nomy, who have declared that to be the 

 legitimate basis on which all national re- 

 venues should be founded. As the sub- 

 ject may be ventilated in higher quarters, 

 I will not pursue it further, but return 

 to my own immediate concerns. 



The first attempt at forming a line of 

 rail from Cambridge to London was, by the 

 folly of some and the knavery of others, a 

 failure; and what was intended for and 

 called the North-Eastern, which, if properly 

 carried out, would have precluded the ne- 

 cessity of the Great Northern from Hun- 

 tingdon to the metropolis, was committed 

 to and amalgamated with the Eastern Coun- 

 ties. After a considerable time had been 

 lost in preliminaries, and enormous expen- 

 ses incurred in Parliament, the company 

 succeeded in getting the line down to 

 Broxbourne, about fifteen miles by the 

 turnpike from Shoreditch church. For 

 that short distance it was not thought de- 



VOL. III. R 



