COACHMEN, 307 



become questionable 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 speed of the new mode of 

 travelling, as also to acknowledge the truth of the 

 French philosopher's axiom, that the quick com- 

 munication of persons and thoughts is the very per- 

 fection 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 considerable 

 alarm for the welfare and happiness of his country 

 the immense amount of capital already invested in 

 railroads, amounting, with the cost of those now 

 introduced or intended to be introduced to your 

 Honourable House, to more than three hundred 

 millions* sterling, and that your petitioner's 

 alarm arises from this vast accumulation of capital, 

 its tendency having been at all times, and in all 

 nations, to make the rich man richer and the poor 

 man poorer, thereby oppressing the working classes, 



* According to the late Board of Trade return, the capital in- 

 vested in railways, in the United Kingdom, is seven hundred and 

 eighty-four millions, and upwards. 



20—2 



