believe that more of evil than of good would result from such an attempt. It is a work that should be left to private zeal and benevolence. But if the government cannot, from the circumstances in which it is placed, directly advance the cause of truth, it is solemnly bound not to afford the slightest aid towards the propagation of error. And it is the grossest cajolery to affect this respect for Mahomedan and Hindoo learning-religious and secular-whilst we are training up youths in other Seminaries, for the express purpose of stimulating and qualifying them to pull all such false systems down upon the heads of their fathers. It is dishonest in the extreme now to look one way and now another. It damages the character of the government; and the constant effort to keep up the imposition tends to retard that emancipation of the educated classes from the trammels of caste and superstition, which must prepare the way for the general triumph of truth.

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As in the case of commercial grievances, M. de Warren is too late in denouncing the open homage to idolatry, at one timewe are ashamed to admit-paid by the British Government of India. The guns of our forts no longer thunder, as he alleges, in honour of les fêtes de la Dourgale et de la Kali, déesses de la lubricité, de la prostitution, et de l'assassinat.' Nor does the government still condescend, comme les Brahmes, exploiter la crédulité des pauvres Hindous, et vivre aux dépens de la ' pagode de Jagarnath.' From the worst of these abominations it has already shaken itself free; and every step that has been taken, of late years, has been in the right direction. We trust that erelong we shall be able to say, that whilst we accord the most complete toleration to the religions of our subjects, we take not the smallest part, direct or indirect, in their encouragement or support.

We must stop here. The field over which M. de Warren has expatiated is so extensive, that we have been compelled to confine ourselves to those of his general charges which appeared to us most plausible and most important. As regards both what we have done, and what we have omitted, our Continental readers will do us the justice to bear in mind, that an allegation may be made in a single sentence, the full refutation of which by facts and figures would demand pages. On the other hand, we feel that some apology is due to our English readers, for having travelled over much ground that must be trite to the well-informed upon Indian affairs; and for having filled our pages with answers to accusations, which even those but ordinarily acquainted with the character of the administration of our Empire in the East, must know to be utterly unfounded. But our chief aim has

been to disabuse the minds of those by whose patronage the work of M. de Warren has come to a second edition. And in our endeavour to vindicate the truth for their better information, we trust that we have been able to avoid, on the one side, that morbid sensibility which resents as national insults, mistakes or misrepresentations of our public character and conduct; and, on the other, that indifference to the opinion of our intelligent neighbours, which, in our judgment, little becomes those to whom God has committed a weighty and solemn trust, for the due fulfilment of which they are responsible both to Him, and to the great commonwealth of mankind.

ART. VII. 1. Report of the Officers of the Railway Department to the Lords of the Committee of the Privy Council for Trade1844-5.

2. Statistique Raisonnée de l'Exploitation des Chemins de Fer. Paris: 1843.

3. Dinglers Polytechnischer Journal. Stutgard: 1844-5.

4. Railway Legislation, with Suggestions for its Improvement. By JAMES MORRISON, Esq. M.P. London: 1846.

5. The American Railway Journal. New York.

6. Report of the Railway Gauge Commissioners. London: 1846. 7. Die Eisenbahnen Deutschlands Statistisch dargestelles. BARON VON Reden.

8. Eisenbahnbuch. VON REDEN.

9. Grosse Eisenbahnkarte von Deutschland. VON REden.

10. Railways, their Rise, Progress, and Construction; with Remarks on Railway Accidents. By ROBERT RITCHIE, Civil Engineer. 8vo. London: 1846.

W HEN we consider the great material resources of this country, her progress in commerce, and the antiquity of her naval supremacy, we cannot fail to be surprised at the late date of her advancement in the important art of Internal Transport. Yet from the conditions of her topography there must always have existed the strongest incentive to improve the means of inland communication. All her great seats of manufacture are situate near her geographical centre. There, her soil teems with mineral wealth. There, inexhaustible sources of iron and coal abound. Yet, until within little more than fifty years from the

present time, England was among the most backward countries in Europe, in this branch of the industrial arts.

Until the middle of the last century, goods continued to be conveyed in Scotland on pack-horses. The time required by common carriers to complete even short journeys in populous districts would seem, to our present modes of thinking, absolutely incredible. Sir Henry Parnell relates, that the ordinary Carrier between Edinburgh and Selkirk, a distance of thirty-eight miles, required a fortnight for his journey, going and returning! In 1750, the Stage-Coach between Edinburgh and Glasgow took a day and a half to complete the journey. In the year 1763, there was but one Stage-Coach between London and Edinburgh, which started once a month from each. place, and took a fortnight to complete the trip! The tract of ground crossed by the Liverpool and Manchester railway, on which thousands of travellers are now daily transported at a speed varying from twentyfive to fifty miles an hour, just seventy-five years ago, was travelled by Arthur Young, who has left us the following description of it: I know not in the whole range of language terms sufficiently expressive to describe this infernal road. Let me most seriously caution all travellers who may accidentally propose to travel this terrible country, to avoid it as they would the devil; for a thousand to one they break their necks or their limbs by overthrows or breakings-down. They will here meet with ruts, which I actually measured, four feet deep, ' and floating with mud only from a wet summer. What, therefore, must it be after a winter? The only mending it receives is tumbling in some loose stones, which serve no other purpose than jolting a carriage in the most intolerable manner. These are not merely opinions, but facts; for I actually passed three 'carts broken down in these eighteen miles of execrable memory.'

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To the close of the last century, the internal transport of goods by waggon, was not only intolerably slow, but so expensive as to exclude every object except manufactured articles; and such as, being of light weight, would allow of a high rate of transport. Thus the charge for waggon-carriage from London to Leeds was at the rate of L.13 per ton. The rate of charge between Liverpool and Manchester was 40s. a ton. Heavy articles, such as coals and other minerals, could only be available for commerce where their position favoured transport by sea; and consequently many of the richest districts of the country remained unproductive, awaiting the tardy advancement of the act of transport. The Bridgewater canal was not commenced till about the year 1767. The success which attended this enterprise excited the attention of other great proprietors: the Canal Companies were

formed, and the extensive system of inland navigation, which has so long served the purposes of English commerce, soon overspread the country.

Protected from all competition by the imperfect nature of the public roads, and the injurious operation of the turnpike tolls, these Companies soon monopolised the entire inland traffic of England, and began to realise immense profits. It was in vain that rival lines were in some instances constructed. The instinct of common interest soon produced a combination of the Companies, extinguished competition, and left the public victims to monopoly and exorbitant prices.

The commerce of the country supported this system of extortion long and patiently. It was not forgotten by the merchants and manufacturers, that, before the construction of the canal, they had no practicable means whatever for internal traffic; and the companies were allowed to continue in the enjoyment of their revenues. At length security engendered negligence. The service of transport was not only extravagantly charged for, but ill performed. Petitions were presented to Parliament in 1825, in which it was stated, and evidence offered, that the cotton which was transported three thousand miles across the Atlantic, from New York to Liverpool, in twenty days, took six weeks to be carried from Liverpool to the mills of the spinners at Manchester a distance of only thirty miles. This was more than even the phlegmatic temperament of Englishmen could endure, and it was resolved to construct a Railway to perform the service.

Roused from their apathy, the wealthy and powerful canal companies at once resolved to propitiate the merchants by a reduction of their tariff. It was, however, too late. The decision was taken the new project had been well considered, and its advantages were rendered too plain. Conciliation failing, and compromise rejected, the inland navigation interest rallied their partisans in Parliament to oppose the act authorising the construction of the Railway, and for two years they succeeded in their purpose. The commerce of Liverpool and Manchester, however, felt its interest too deeply involved to submit to be repulsed, and at length, in the year 1828, the act to incorporate the Railway Company received the royal assent.

Such was the origin of that singular advancement in the art of transport over land, which has formed so remarkable an event in the present age, and which has spread its influence, more or less, over all that portion of the terrestrial globe to which civilisation has extended. The unprecedented degree in which capital has been attracted to this improvement within the last two years

the extraordinary manner in which it has engrossed the attention of every enlightened people, and more especially that of our own country-the great interests which are consequently involved in it, and, above all, the imperfect means of information which have been afforded to the public respecting it, combine to render it a fit subject for an extended notice. We propose, therefore, in the present Article, to take a brief retrospect of the progress of the art of Railway Transport, from the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester line to the present time-to lay before our readers the actual state and immediate prospects of Railway Transit, in the various countries where it has been commenced-to examine its effects on social and commercial intercourse, and to consider the often and anxiously discussed questions of its safety-of the uniformity of gauge-and of the relations between Railways and the State.

As originally designed, the sole object of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway was the transport of merchandise between these important towns. Manchester, a great manufacturing district, received its raw material from distant quarters of the globe by the port of Liverpool; and, on the other hand, shipped at the same port the manufactured produce of its mills and factories to its customers in every part of the world. The reciprocal transmission of these articles was the main object to which the new company looked, as the means of affording an adequate return for the capital they were about to expend.

As the enterprise advanced towards completion, the method of conducting the traffic upon it came to be considered. The project was originally regarded as an ordinary road, and the owners were authorised to demand toll from all who might desire to transport goods upon it. This method of proceeding would have been admissible, if the line were to be worked by horse power like a common road; and such, at one time, was the view of the matter taken by many who were interested in it. The Engineer, however, Mr George Stephenson, who had been employed to make the line, recommended the use of steam as an agent superior in economy and efficiency to animal power. There were two methods in which the agency of steam might be used. A rope might be carried on rollers along the line between the rails, to which the waggons containing the merchandise might be attached; and this rope being, at certain stations, coiled round large drums or cylinders, the waggons might be drawn from station to station by fixed steam-engines, applied to keep these drums or cylinders in revolution. Such was called the system of stationary engines. The second method