affairs, its introduction owed little to what unbounded prosperity it produced science, by which it was distrusted, or at one time, and what terrible disasters to art, by which it was feebly support at another; and how this great exciteed; and its effects, as is generally the ment, coinciding with the existing moncase with great inventions, did not im-etary system, which encouraged spemediately develop themselves. But culations at first, and withdrew the ere long they were fully made mani- means of completing them at last, fest, and they have now, in a manner, landed the nation in a series of diffichanged the whole face of society in culties, from which it was only extrithe civilised world. Before the year cated by events in the western and 1850, no less than eleven hundred and southern hemispheres, so timely and eleven Acts of Parliament had been important that they can only be aspassed, to form new lines or extend old cribed to Divine interposition. ones; and the capital authorised to be expended on them amounted to the enormous sum of £348,012, 188; while, by the year 1861, the paid-up capital amounted to £362,327,338, and the miles actually open for traffic to 10,869.* 63. A considerable impulse was given to these undertakings in the years 1834 and 1835, which were distinguished by great commercial activity; but by far the greater part of the railways were set on foot during the joint-stock mania, which lasted from the beginning of 1845 to the end of 1847, during which the sums authorised to be raised by Acts of Parliament were above £230,000,000.+ Not more than £200,000,000 of the whole sums expended on railways has proved productive, or yielded any return whatever; and above £150,000,000 has been absolutely lost in these undertakings, so far as the proprietors or the capital of the nation is concerned. It will appear in the sequel how powerfully this prodigious raising and expenditure of money came to influence the fortunes and destinies of the State; 64. But the effects of the railway system have not been confined merely to the industrial and monetary concerns of the nation, great and lasting as these effects have been. It has produced social and political results of the very highest importance, and which, like other things in this world, have been partly salutary and partly pernicious. It has in a great measure destroyed space, and brought the most distant parts of the empire into comparatively close proximity with its great cities and metropolis. In this way it has, to a most surprising degree, equalised the circumstances of the different parts of the country, and deprived the immediate neighbourhood of the capital and large towns of the exclusive advantages which they have so long enjoyed. The markets of London are supplied with beef from Aberdeenshire, pork from Ireland, and vegetables and milk from the midland counties of England, as regularly as they used to be from the fields of Surrey or the downs of Sussex. Immense and en * PROGRESS OF RAILWAYS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM SINCE 1847. tirely beneficial have been the effects | another, it has augmented the efficiency of this equalisation; and they have of the central government, and permitalready become most conspicuous in ted it to provide with fewer men, and the improved cultivation and extended at a less cost, both for defence against resources of the distant parts of the external enemies, and the maintenance empire. Nor have the moral and of domestic tranquillity. That worst social effects of the increased facilities of all ascendancies in a community, the of communication been less important, sway of the mob of the capital over or less conducive to human happiness. the Legislature, from the mere force of By reducing to a third the expense, proximity of situation, so fatally expe and to a fourth the time of travelling, rienced in Athens, Rome, and Paris, they have extended its benefits to a has been in a great measure destroyed. proportionally wider circle, and, in A more striking proof of this cannot be particular, brought them within the figured than was furnished by the fact, reach of the middle class, to whom that when the disarmament of the Nathey were previously almost unknown. tional Guard in Belleville and MontA tradesman or mechanic can now martre was carried into execution, after make the tour of the British Islands, the suppression of the great insurrecor even of Europe, in a few weeks, tion in July 1848, it was effected by the which formerly was never attempted National Guards of La Vendée, brought but by the nobility, and accomplished up by the Orleans railway from that in as many years. Immense has been distant and secluded province. the effect of this happy facility, alike in dispelling prejudice, refining manners, and improving taste; and these changes have powerfully reacted upon capital cities. It is from the railway system, and the desires to which it gave rise among a new and wide circle, that the Great Exhibitions of London in 1851 and 1862, those at New York and Paris, and the glorious Crystal Palace at Sydenham, have taken their rise. 66. There is no unmixed good, however, in human affairs, save that arising from the exercise of virtue. Advantages, how great soever, are invariably attended by corresponding evils. The railway system is no exception to this general rule; on the contrary, it affords one of the most striking illustrations of it. It is the greatest promoter that ever came into operation of the centralising system; but it has induced its evils as well as its advantages. As much as it has 65. In a political point of view, the brought the physical force of the proveffects of the railway system have been inces to the support of Government in not less important. By bringing the the capital, has it brought the intellecdistant provinces of our empire, com-tual influence of the metropolis down paratively speaking, into close proximity with the metropolis, it has augmented their intelligence, and in the same proportion increased their political power. The constant intercourse from travelling, the increased facility for the transmission of books and newspapers, the almost instantaneous transmission of intelligence by the electric telegraph, which soon after followed, have powerfully contributed to equalise the advantages of situation, and give to the provinces a large portion, if not the whole, of the intellectual activity which formerly was peculiar to the metropolis. By enabling troops or police to be sent rapidly from one part of the country to to the provinces. The chief talent of the nation being there concentrated, from the objects of ambition, political, literary, or legal, which are presented, the sway of mind in a particular quarter has become wellnigh irresistible. The empire has become a huge metropolis, which the London press rules with despotic sway. Originality or independence of thought in the provinces is crushed in all save a few intrepid minds, by the overwhelming weight of the capital. • 67. Nor has the material and political influence of great cities been less increased by the change than their intellectual sway. The facility of reaching the metropolis has caused the great and the affluent to transfer nearly all their purchases to London; the attractions of Manchester, Birmingham, Liverpool, and Glasgow, have drawn the most part of the purchases of the middle classes in the provinces to these great emporiums of wealth and industry. The small towns have dwindled, or become stationary, because they have lost their purchasers; the great ones have swelled into Babylons, because they have tripled theirs. Politically speaking, the change has been of incalculable importance. The landed proprietors have ceased to influence the small boroughs, because all their purchases are made in the great ones, or the metropolis. The great manufacturing towns have become the rulers, because it is from them that the employment which feeds the lesser towns flows. The only influence which can be reckoned on as durable is that which gives bread or employment. When it is recollected that three-fifths of the House of Commons consist of the members for boroughs, it may be conceived how important an influence this change has come to have on the balance of parties in the State. 68. Experience has not yet enabled us fully to determine what influence the railway system, when generally introduced, is fitted to have on military operations-the attack or defence of nations; for the first great wars which broke out after its introduction-viz., those in Italy and Hungary in 1849, and Turkey in 1854--took place in countries where it had not been at all, or only partially introduced. But the Italian campaign of 1859, and those in America in 1861, 1862, and 1863, have thrown very considerable light on the subject. It is usually considered as having strengthened the means of defence rather than attack, by facilitating the concentration of troops, which it certainly does, on the menaced point. Yet must this be taken with some limitations; for if it facilitates the concentration of the defending, it in an equal degree aids the accumulation of the attacking force if it will bring the military strength of all France in three days to the menaced point in Belgium or the Rhine, it will not less certainly bring the whole invading force of Germany in as short a time to the same point. Louis Napoleon afforded a remarkable example of this, by the rapid transfer of the bulk of his army from the right to the left of the theatre of war in the opening of the campaign of 1859 in Lombardy. If generally introduced into Russia, railways would double the already great military strength of the Czar, by more than halving the distance which his troops have to march, and rendering the translation of them from the Baltic to the Euxine, or from Poland to the Caucasus, the work of a few days only, and of no fatigue or loss to the men. 69. Undoubtedly, however, upon the whole, it favours the arms of civilisation in a contest with barbarism; for it requires an effort of skill and expenditure of capital for its general adoption which can only be looked for in a wealthy and enlightened state. If it is equally adopted by two countries in a similar state of civilisation, as France and Germany, and suffered to exist, it may cause war to resemble more closely a game at chess, by enabling the players to make the moves at pleasure. But if one, when invaded, has the courage or the patriotic spirit to break up the system, it may give a very great, perhaps a decisive advantage, to the party making the sacrifice; for if the retiring army tears up the railway lines and breaks down the bridges which have been passed in its retreat, it retains the advantages of the system to itself, and takes them away from its opponent. This was repeatedly evinced in the American war in 1861, 1862, and 1863, where, as railroads or great rivers were the chief, often the only, means of communication, their destruction or obstruction became an essential object to the contending parties, and the power of doing so more than once saved the Confederates from ruin. In this way railways may be rendered an essential element in the defence, and important in maintaining the independence of nations. Probably, to take advantage of it, fortresses will come hereafter to be constructed in the heart rather than | when he said in Parliament, "I bethe frontiers of kingdoms, in order that lieve a feeling now exists among the an invading enemy may find his own labouring classes, that your lordships facilities diminish, and the forces of his and the upper classes of society are to adversary increase, as he approaches the be regarded rather as their foes than centre of his power. their friends." 70. Before the great strife of parties began in Parliament, symptoms of discontent, attended with some danger and more alarm, began in some of the agricultural counties. Many of the numerous county petitions, which had been presented on the subject of agricultural distress for some years past, had predicted that, if some measures calculated to afford relief were not adopted, it would be impossible to prevent the working classes from breaking into open acts of violence. This prediction was now too fatally verified. The disturbances began in Kent, from whence they rapidly spread to Surrey, Sussex, Hampshire, Wiltshire, and Buckinghamshire. Night after night new conflagrations were lighted up by bands of incendiaries; corn-stacks, barns, farm-buildings, and live cattle, were indiscriminately consumed. Bolder bands attacked mills and demolished machinery; thrashing-mills were in an especial manner the object of their hostility. During October and November, these acts of incendiarism became so frequent as to excite universal alarm. The first rioters who were seized were treated, from feelings of humanity, with undue lenity by the county magistrates, which, of course, augmented the disorders; and it was not till severe examples had been made, by a special commission sent into the disturbed districts, and a large body of military was quartered in them, that they were at length put down. From what came out at the trials, it did not appear that these outrages had been the result of any general political design against the Government, but had rather arisen from great distress among the working classes, stimulated into acts of violence by the example of successful revolution at Paris, and similar acts of Jacobin atrocity in Normandy, where they had been very frequent. The Duke of Richmond stated the truth 71. Parliament met on the 26th October; but some days having been consumed in swearing in members, the session was not opened till the 2d November. On that day, the King's speech alluded slightly to the recent overthrow of the elder branch of the house of Bourbon in France, but more specifically to foreign events in Belgium and Portugal. "The elder branch of the house of Bourbon no longer reigns in France; and the Duke of Orleans has been called to the throne by the title of King of the French. Having received from the new sovereign a declaration of his earnest desire to cultivate the good understanding, and maintain inviolate all the engagements with this country, I did not hestitate to continue my diplomatic relations and friendly intercourse with the French court. I have viewed with deep regret the state of affairs in the Low Countries. I lament that the enlightened administration of the King of the Netherlands should not have preserved his dominions from revolt; and that the wise and prudent measure of submitting the complaints and desires of his people to an extraordinary meeting of the States-General should have led to no satisfactory result. I am endeavouring, in concert with my allies, to devise such means of restoring tranquillity as may be compatible with the welfare and good government of the Netherlands, and with the future security of other states. I have not yet accredited my ambassador to the court of Lisbon; but the Portuguese Government having determined to perform a great act of justice and humanity, by the grant of a general amnesty, I think that the time may shortly arrive when the interests of my subjects will demand a renewal of those relations which have so long subsisted between the two countries. I place, without reserve, at your disposal my interest in the | memorable from the revolution in the hereditary revenues, and in those funds constitution which they undoubtedly which may arise from any droits of the contributed, if not to create, at least Crown or of the Admiralty, from the to accelerate: "The noble Earl (Grey) West India duties, or from any casual has recommended us not only to put revenue, either in my foreign posses- down these disturbances, but to put sions or in the United Kingdom." the country in a state to meet and overcome the dangers which are likely to arise from the late transactions in France, by the adoption of something like parliamentary reform. The noble Earl has stated that he is not prepared himself to come forward with any measure of the kind; and I will tell him further, neither is the Government. Nay, I will go further, and say that I have not heard of any measure, up to this moment, which could in any way satisfy my mind, or by which the state of the representation could be improved, or placed on a footing more satisfactory to the peo 72. These words were of deep and important significance as regarded the policy which the Duke of Wellington's administration was prepared to pursue in reference to the important political changes then taking place, or which had recently occurred on the continent of Europe. But these changes, great as they were, did not form the all-absorbing object of public interest. It was domestic change which was the object of universal desire; it was on reform in Parliament that all hearts were set. Foreign affairs were regarded with interest almost entirely as they bore on this vital question; and, ac-ple of this country than it now is. cordingly, on the very first day of the I will say that I am thoroughly consession, the two leaders of the oppo- vinced that England possesses at this site parties, Earl Grey and the Duke moment a legislature which answers of Wellington, delivered their opin- all the good purposes of a legislature, ions on it in terms which have become in a higher degree than any scheme of memorable in English history. The government whatever has ever been former said: 66 We ought to learn found to do in any country in the wisdom from what is passing before world; that it possesses the confidence our eyes; and when the spirit of lib- of the country; that it deservedly poserty is breaking out all around, it is sesses that confidence; and that its our first duty to secure our own insti- decisions have justly the greatest tutions, by introducing into them a weight and influence with the peotemperate reform. I have been a re- ple. Nay, I will go yet further, and former all my life, and on no occasion say that if, at this moment, I had to have I been inclined to go further than form a legislature for any country, I am prepared to go now, if an oppor- particularly for one like this, in the tunity were to offer. But I do not possession of great property of varifound the title to demand it on ab- ous descriptions, although, perhaps, I stract right. We are told that every should not form one precisely such as man who pays taxes-nay, that every we have, I would endeavour to proman arrived at the years of discretion duce something which should give the -has right to a vote for representa-same result-viz., a representation of tives. That right I utterly deny. The right of the people is to have good government, one that is calculated to secure their privileges and happiness; and if that is incompatible with universal or very general suffrage, then the limitation, and not the extension, is the true right of the people.' 73. The Duke of Wellington answered, in words which have become the people, containing a large body of |