The Express.
London, England, 1848-08-22 00:00:00

Petilin!fZexTresseTil hi;asi4;iiihinent, with a " Wail

ease I
Leg protracted and tedious oorrespondence en-
lied. The responsible commissioner actually consti-
tatad himself "a board" every other day, and the
illtior clerk found so many letters to copy that he
almost felt disposed to ask for a retiring perm,.
At length „the hoard" dictated "a minute," in
which they specified their terms. The railway was not
to go this way, nor that way, nor the other way. It
was to pass to the right of this plantation, and to the
left of that wood. It was to go oTor this marsh, and

to avoid thacrising ground. In tact, it was to go the
most roundabout way that it could go, and it was to
pay the crown an enormous sum for letting it go at
all, and to expend some 40,0001. or 60,0001. in order
to go precisely where the engineer declared that it
ought not.
"A minute" once passed by "my lords" is as un-
alterable as • law of the Medea or Persians. The
promoters were obliged to accept the terms. The
line was made. The company did not wait to open it,
until the sides thereof were made as picturesque as
the old mail coach roads ; and the consequence was,
that when the directors went down and opened their
railway the secrets of the New Forest stood re-
vealed. • .

Very different, indeed, is the scene presented to the
passenger by rail to that which met the eye of the
former traveller by the old coach road. Entering the
forest just at the foot of Hounadown-hill, decidedly
one of the most picturesque spots of the old South-
ampton and Lyndhurst road the railroad comes first
of all upon the union workhouse. It is an admirable
frontispiece to the book of nature which is about
to open.
For eighteen dreary miles, from the Lyndhurst-
road Station on the east, to the town of Ringwood on
the west, the line of railway passes, with two short
exceptions, through one long, dreary, wretched,
dismal waste ! " Forests !"—the idea is all moon-
shine. " Timber !"—the notion is a thorough gag.
The place is a morass, one-half of it a swamp ! The
thing is patent, palpable, to be seen of everybody.
You need, "my lords," no commission of inquiry, no
government inspector to go down about it ; just take
a first-class return ticket, and you may judge for
yourselves in six hours, and unless you are absolutely
blind, there is no doubt as to the decision you will
arrive at.
64,000 acres of lard in all ; 10,000, or thereabouts,
supposed to have old timber on it, and 6,000 more en-
closed, under act of parliament, for young plantations.
Such is the New Forest ! 16,000 from 64,000 leavei
48,000, and gives the number of acres of unproductive
nate possessed by the crown upon what ought to be
this magnificent estate!
In Lyndhurst church, on Sunday morning, there
was a sermon preached upon the gospel of the day,
and the congregation heard from the spiritual teacher
that "there was a certain rich man which had a
steward, and the same was accused unto him that he
had wasted his substance." Was it natural, or was it
wrong, that the minds of the congregation should re-
' vert to Whitehall-place ?
Fifty thousand acres of uncultivated land, with a
railroad passing through it, which brings it within
three hours' easy access of tbo London market. The
world almost may he searched for a parallel. What
would be said in America could such a thing be
found in the states of New York or Pennsylvania?
What a triumphant argument for the friends of emi-
gration, could you find such an al:otment within
three hours' ride of Sydney. or Quebec !
'1 here are absolutely portions of the line of railroad
passing through the New Forest from which a tree
can scarcely be discerned. There are other patty
which have nothing but heather and furze within a
mile of the line in any direction. Nothing is wanted
but proper drainage to make this land cultivable, and
but little more to make it in most parts highly pro-
ductive, and to a great extent readily so. Yet, here
it Hee, and has been lying for years past, producing
not one single farthing to the state, and maintaining
not a single human being beyond the keeper, who is
paid by the state for riding over it.
How came such a state of things to pass? Th.!
simple answer is, that " the system" has existed for
years ; and that in the perpetuation of the system has
been at least the fancied interest of all immediately
and personally concerned. "We have seen no good
reason to alter the system of the office" was the de-
claration of one of " my Lords " when the abuses of
the Woods and Forests were exposed. It is a way
we have in the public departments of Great Britain,
of shielding all individuals from blame by throwing
it upon that irresponsible commissioner " the
system."
Very great, however, is the responsibility of the
system which has permitted these things to exist:
infinitely more serious will be the responsibilities of
those who permit them any longer to continue.