580 Original Articles. [Oct., 



thus prevented, and that they considered the power of passing along 

 the footboards would lead to rash exposure on the part of the public. 

 All but five thought that if passengers were able to move from a 

 lower to a higher class of carriage, they would be likely to take advan- 

 tage of this means of defrauding the companies. All but one thought 

 the system would afford facilities for robbery and assault upon passen- 

 gers, and especially on females travelling alone. Four companies had 

 employed the system for general purposes, and two especially for the 

 collection of tickets, but one had discontinued it from apprehension 

 of danger, and another after an accident ; and a third did not consider 

 that it had been attended with benefit or the reverse. All but three 

 thought that the disadvantages of its adoption would preponderate. 



The sub-committee came finally to the conclusion, — 



" That there are several railways, the dimensions of whose per- 

 manent structures would prevent the plan from being generally 

 adopted, without which it would be inoperative ; that the expense of 

 the alteration (which they estimated at 165,855Z.) would be out of all 

 proportion to the benefit that would be derived from it, that it would 

 expose the public to great danger and to robbery, and the companies 

 to fraud ; and that, therefore, it is not desirable to adopt it." 



The above apprehensions as to damage to the public were actually 

 realized by the murder of M. Poinsot already referred to ; and the 

 difficulties of external communication have since increased, and con- 

 tinue to increase, in consequence of the carriages being frequently 

 constructed of extra width. 



It is, indeed, evident, that alterations so extensive as to be hardly 

 practicable, would be required in the rolling stock and works on 

 many of the railways, including most of the through lines, in order 

 to provide at the present time for external circulation. And if the 

 necessary alterations were made, by widening the works and lessening 

 the width of the carriages, by adding convenient handrails and foot- 

 steps to all the vehicles used in passenger-trains ; arid, perhaps, by 

 covering this outside gallery with a framing of bars or network, as 

 has been frequently proposed, the resulting system would still remain 

 open to the serious objections which have already been partially 

 referred to ; and the more secure the means of circulation the greater, 

 in one respect, would be the disadvantages attending it. It would be 

 impossible to confine the use of the footboards, or of an outside 

 gallery, exclusively to the servants of the company. Complaints 

 would be made of strange passengers finding entrance to the carriages 

 after the starting of the trains, similar to, but more frequently than, 

 those which have already appeared of their crawling from under the 

 seats. External circulation has not the advantage of publicity, which 

 in the case of internal circidation exercises so wholesome a check on 

 certain passengers, as well as on the servants of the company. 

 Card-sharpers and others travelling for plunder, would find the former 

 convenient, if they happened to start in a compartment ill-suited to 

 their purposes ; and, in fact, they would be enabled to visit different 

 carriages, while the train was in motion, in search of prey ; or it 

 would, at all events, require several guards in a long train, always on 



