The Sun.
London, England, 1838-09-25 00:00:00

RAILROADS IN IRELAND

The following • extract from the Athenmum contains sound
views on the important question, whether railroads, canals,
and other great works of this description, for Ireland, should
be undertaken by the Government, or left to individual enter-
prise. The latter mode, no doubt, possesses many advantages ;
it is the system to which the English have been long aceus.
tomed, and in general is most successful, but there are excep-
tions to a general rule. That such works in Ireland should be
undertaken by the Government, we hold to be a manifest ex-
ception, and if Ministers do not., next session, take some effec-
tive steps to controul the management of these highways in
England, the public will have reason to regret that the same
exception did not also apply here, and that all the great lines
of railroads had not been planned, executed, and regulated by
the Government, under the sanction of the Legislature. The
extract refers to the second Report of the Commissioners ef
railroads for Ireland :
It strikes us, that in these recommendations the Commis-
sioners have not expressed their whole thoughts and feelings,
but have yielded to an apprehended outcry of innovation ; or
raiser, perhaps, to an unwillingness to exceed the limits of
their Commission. As we read the Report, we cannot un-
derstand it otherwise, than as indicating a desire that the
railroads of Ireland should be undertaken by the Govern-
ment, and become a completely national work ; and this we
conceive is the secret of the hostility which certain parties have
manifested against the Commission—an hostility sufficiently
bitter where it is not absurd, either by its transparent personal
motives, or its awkward shirking of the matter really at issue.
Whether or no such be the feeling of the reporters, we arc
certain that their arguments are available to no less an extent ;
and that from our whole experience of the Irish character, and
of the manner in which it has shown itself in reference to the
business of railroads, we are thoroughly satisfied, not only that
a perfect system of railways will never arise out of the
chaos of individual speculations, but that a few short and in-
significant lines will alone be effected. The basis of all specu-
lation on this subject has hitherto been the hope of drawing
English capital to Ireland. We could ourselves name a pro-
posed line to which the landed proprietors yielded a clamorous
approval. When pressed, however, for a rough survey, to lay
before the London capitalists, they would not subscribe ten
pounds for that necessary preliminary. They were desirous,
indeed, of the advantages which a railroad would confer on
their estates ; but it is needless to say that few estates
mortgaged as Irish property generally is, could bear the ex-
pense of any considerable part of the undertaking. If the
average profit of the line be but four per cent., a certain loss
must attend the execution of those parts nearest the remote
terminus, precisely where new communications are, in a
national point of view, of the most urgent necessity.
That loss the land could not bear ; and the remoter ca-
pitalist would not. If, therefore, the completion of a
great system of railroads be an object of incalculable
national concern, it is only as a public work that it can
be effected. The propriety of such intervention does
not rest upon the narrow grounds of political economy, the
simple question of pecuniary loss or profit. A nation may
wisely spend money upon other considerations than those
which govern a private capitalist. Nations are not mere
money-making machines ; but aggregates of sensitive beings,
requiring happiness, and bound to morality. But if the ex-
penditure of public money in Ireland can be rendered avail-
able to the regeneration of the labouring classes, to the resto-
ration of the balance between demand and supply in the la-
bour market, and, consequently, to the re-establishment of
peace and of industry, even as a pecuniary speculation it
must ultimately prove profitable. We know not, indeed, bow
the trading houses of Great Britain and Company can lay out
its money to a greater advantage than by bringing its Irish re-
sources into full operation. Socially, morally, politically, and
commercially, Ireland has long been little better than a mill-
stone round the public neck—an inevitable consequence of the
uninterrupted ages of bad government. But this is beside the
question. Ireland, no matter why, is a farm in the worst pos-
sible condition, out of heart, and unprofitable. In such cases,
the wise proprietor applies his other resources in the work of
amelioration ; he advances his capital on the prospect of re-
mote but certain returns."
" Time does wonders, and the report before us will at least
contribute to hurry on events, by the knowledge of details
which it will disseminate. In adding the mite of our own
convictions, we do our duty as journalists, and ease our hearts
as men. We repeat, then, that the project of a grand com-
prehensive system of railways for Ireland, is a God-send to
,he cause of humanity, of peace, and of national prosperity."