288 APPENDIX. 



them the benefit would become question- 

 able, should the state of every class of their 

 overcrowded populations be strictly looked 

 into. 



" That your petitioner is not unwilling 

 to admit the convenience, the luxury nay, 

 even the safety and importance, as regards 

 the speed of the new mode of travelling 

 as also to acknowledge the truth of the 

 French philosopher's axiom, that the quick 

 communication of persons and thoughts is 

 the very perfection of civilization ; but 

 your petitioner would humbly submit that 

 luxury is not happiness, any more than 

 civilization is prosperity in a nation or in a 

 family. 



" That your petitioner views with con- 

 siderable alarm, for the welfare and happi- 

 ness of his Country the immense amount of 

 capital already invested in railroads 

 amounting, with the costs of those now in- 

 troduced, or intended to be introduced, to 

 your Honourable House, to more than three 



