The Sun.
London, England, 1846-07-02 00:00:00

THE SIY,N, LONDON, THURSDAY MORNING, JULY 2 1846.

T..17...r MAGAZINES.
• _BLACK I,l' ODD

roue in silk stockings meditating suicide, and mouthing blas-
phemy on an Alpine rock; a brilliant and popular wit and
poet, setting Spinoza to music, and satirising the princi-
palities and powers of heaven as bitterly as he had done the
bards and reviewers of earth. Into those giddy and terrible
heights where Milton had entered a permitted guest in
vilege of virtue; where Goethe had walked in like a pas-
sionless and. prying cherub, forgetting to worship in his ab-
sorbing desire to know; and on which Shelley was wrecked
and stranded in the storm of his fanatical unbelief; Byron
is upborne by the presumption and the despair of his mental
misery."
Such articles as this one upon Bulwer are very appro-
priately introduced into the pages of Tait, since the
principle characteristic of that magazine is that of
elaborate and dispassionate criticism. The creilit which
it has already acquired in this respect is fully sus-
tained in the present number by the notices of Prince
Labanoff's " Lettters of Mary Stuart," Ulrici's volume
upon " Shaltspere's Dramatic Art," Murdoch's " Tour
in France and Italy,"' and particularly by Thomas De
Guincey's sound analysis of the " Miscellaneous Works
of Mackintosh." We should recommend the son of
Sir James Mackintosh to revise his editorial
notes after the blunders and the " sins of
omission" which De Quincey has therein exposed.
A great responsibility is always assumed by any man
who undertakes the editing of a bygone author, especi-
ally if that author has acquired for himself," reputation
so solid as that of Mackintosh ; and it becomes the
bounden duty of such an editor to fulfil the responsibili-
ties of his self-imposed offices with the utmost care end
the most scrupulous exactitude. Indeed anything like
an editorial slur, anything indicative of slovenliness in
the supervision of works like those, is excessively repre-
hensible. Ht nce we are inclined to think that a fresh
edition of these miscellaneous writings is necessary for
the reputation of Mr. Robert Mackintosh, if not for the
reputation of his celebrated father. The paper, such as
it is, written by De Quircey, will not be attractive to the
general magazine reader, but to the contemplative and to
the lover of bibliographic curiosities it will prove—to em-
ploy a somewhat cant and conventional phrase—" nuts."
The little rpoem addressed "To the Clouds," might
possible appear more worthy of insertion, did it not
recall, by the very association of its title, the dainty
lines of Shelley—and, by them, sink into insignificance.
In the "Literary Register," there are some agreeable
quotations ; and, what with the continuation of " Truth
and Falsehood, a Romance," Tait is not unworthy o
`,his summer season.

! "We,,,do not value the Corn-law- one jot in comparison
with th state of feeling which it, repeal has occasioned. In-
' deed, it is our honest conviction, provided gentlemen ex-
ercise common prudence, and farmers exert themselves, and
labour be not stinted, that Great Britain and Ireland in
a very few years, raise more than corn enough for the con-
sumption of its own inhabitants; and that the home-grower
will be able to heat the foreigner out of the field, and be him-
self a gainer all the while, on account of the preference which
Will always be given to the very superior article which he
raises."

It has tecoma quite a necessity in msgazine writing
to ,flavour the Ktera tore of such periodicals with com-
pilations of historicA romance. For one thing, it im-
parts a semblance o solidity to what might otherwise
appear the mere fri ppory of Folcroft, and infuses both
brilliancy?, and interest into a slumber which might
otherwise elicit the etigina of immeasurable dullness.
Among the melodramatic class of these publications, the
court debaucheries of Charles 11. furnish a dainty sup-
ply of materiels to be dished fp into " A revel at Sedg-
ley's Lodgings," or " A walk in the Mall with Nelly ; '
with others of a morn morbid appetite the "Reign of
Terror " is the Most popular epoch ; while those of a
fastidious delicacy situate their plots in the purlieus of.
the Palais Royal, -during the reign of the Grande
Monarque. There are, however, three themes which
present attractions to all descriptions of magazines, and
which, but for their being altogether exhaustless, would
have long since become frittered away into the veriest
commonplace ; those themes are, to employ the lan-
guage of Count Montholon, " a single thing, a single
event, and a single man—the thing is Waterloo ; the
event, the fall of the Empire ; and the man, Napoleon."
History will become wholly distasteful! when these
mighty and momentous facts—than which none are
more mighty or more momentous in the entire range of
history—fail to arouse the attention and to kindle the
imaginations of men. Blackwood, in the present num-
ber, adds another chapter to the commentaries which
have already been written, and will still continue to be
written, again and again, upon these three extraor-
dinary topics. By a rather anomalous clash of words,
the paper is entitled "The Last Recollections of Napo
leon," and every one who is familiar with the political
creed and the literary antipathies of our Edinburgh
contemporary cannot remain in doubt for a single in-
stant as to the sentiments which are inculcated in the
contribution. They are thoroughly anti-Napoleon.
They are built up on a succession of fallacies which
have not even the merit of being specious; every alter-
nate sentence is a sophism, but such a sophism as John
Willet himself would have penetrated in a second. The
writer undoubtedly is not so facetiously. outré in his hatred
for the Emperor as Colonel Mitcl-ell ; indeed he concedes
so much as to acknowledge that " it is perfectly childish
to question the talents of Napoleon," though in good
sooth "it needs no ghost to tell us that." But while
thus grudgingly eulogising his " antipathy," he discloses
the real prejudices of his heart in the sentence, " that
the character of Napoleon was a singular compound of
the highest intellectual powers with the lowest moral quali-
ties r A very "singular compound," without question !
"The highest intellectual powers with the lowest moral
qualities." Why, that is literally a description
of the archfiend himself; and surely it is not
indicative of the coolness of dispassionate criticism,
to compare an historical character with the
attributes of the devil ! To our thinking such a proceed-
ing is the very quintessence of bigotry. But taking the
sentence in its literal acceptation, it is altogether a meta-
physical paradox, for the most illustrious analysers of
the human intellect, men who have anatomised the
phases of the mind, and familiarised themselves with the
emotico s of the heart, coincide in declaring it to be in-
compatible with ethics, and to be averse to all experience,
to suppose the possibility of a man wholly and essentially
depraved. The utter villain is a creature to be encoun-
tered in novels and melodramas, but never in real life ;
for even those who are almost denitnised in nature, re-
tain some lurking place (however gloomy) for the sym-
pathies and tenderness with which they are still linked
with humanity. In either case, therefore, the senten-
tious expression with which this contributor to
Blackwood sets out, is clearly an exaggeration.
That is the premise of the entire article ;
and the premise being thus exaggerated,
the inferences are, by necessity, nothing but one mar-
velous distortion. Among other things, the writer de-
clares that Napoleon was selfish and Lartless. Now
history assures us, that never was man so worshipped
as was this man. Colonel Muiron was shot dead at
Arcola in defending his life ; Savory wept in the bit-
terest anguish, because not permitted to share his exile
at St. Helena. On the return from Elba, the love of a
whole nation preserved his life better than a Phyi ric
phalanx. His wives entertained towards him the sin-
cerest affection : his household submitted voluntarily
for six years to the most cruel caprices, and the moat
irksome privations of banishment, rather than be se-
parated from the great man whom they loved so well.
Heartless, forsooth ! Then, as to his selfishness—
what pomps, and pensions, and dignities did he not
shower upon his satellites, only to be repaid by ingrati-
tude in the days of his tribulation. Many times did he re-
turn the crowns of Austria and Prussia to their conquered
monarchs; and, at one period he permitted Alexander to
return to Russia in freedom when captured by the
grand army:—was this selfishness? So far was Charles
James Fox from deeming Napoleon selfish or heartless
that he declared " be believed him to be the best as he was
certain he was the greatest of men!" Now we would
more readily bow to the judgment of Charles James
Fox than to those of the anonymous Blackwood con-
tributor, MM. Chateaubriand, Bourrience, Mitchell, and
the Duc d'Otranto, all put together. But we neither
pin our opinions down to the dictation of Fox or any
other personage: the scroll of history has been written
and unrolled, let those, who will, read . We might, with
the least possible effort, disclose the flimsiness of all
those fallacies which we have already remarked as the
principle constituents of this article, but that we con-
e,eive such efforts to be little better than killing summer
flies, which must inevitably die away when the cool-
ness of the wintry future has passed over them.
Agreeing with an elegant writer in the Cyclopmdia,
Brittanica (a Professor of Edinburgh too !) that "no
one has been (like Napoleon) the object of such unspar-
ing abuse, such bitter detraction, such inveterate and
unrelenting rancour," we agree with him also in the
conviction that neither envy, nor malice, nor hatred,
nor slander can ultimately succeed in depriving him of
his just fame." Believing this we can afford to pass over
such relics of the Georgean prejudices in silence, and to
leave the justification of the Emperor Napoleon to time
and the reason of posterity—satisfied that while his
memory will be one of unparalleled greatness, it will
be no less a memory of eminent and beautiful goodness.
" Marlborough's Dispatches," " Rogues in Outline," and
"Elinor Travis" are continued, the latter with some-
what of improvement. The tale of " The Americans
and the Aborigines" is brought in this number
to a conclusion, and, though it may bear the
appearance of a rather questionable compliment,
we consider the last part to be decidedly. the most ac-
ceptable. Colonel Lord Howden's description of" The
Death of Zumalacarragui" is a literary curiosity, and
will be perused with the utmost interest ; the disserta
tion upon " Peru" conveys a remarkable bulk of useful
information. By far the most agreeable contribution, to
ourselves, however, is that headed "New Scottish Plays
and Poems," which is brimming over with the music
and the pot sy of the " Land o' Cakes"—the land of
mountain and of tarn"—" the land of Ossian and of
Burns"—or by whatever other title of beauty you may
please to affix upon Scotland. It is a critical essay, well
worthy of the taste and the nationality of Blackwood.

His crime, in their eyes, is, that be has broken up the
Monopolist party. " Sir Robert Peel," says this writer,
" was more than the Minister of the Crown. He was
the avowed hCad of that party," &c., and the inference
to be drawn from all this is, that in the estimation of the
Tory party the duty of allegiance to the party over-
rides the duty of allegiance to the Sovereign. By break-
ing up a party so thoroughly selfish and so completely
anti-national as this, which would fain ride rough-shod
over both Sovereign and people, Sir Robert Peel bas
conferred a benefit on his country scarcely in-
ferior to that which he has conferred on it by adopting
the principles of free trade as the groundwork of his
commercial policy ; and that the party is completely
broken up vie have the unwilling confession of this
writer:—

" And, now, last of all, is there strength enough in the Pro-
tectionist party,to justify an attempt on their ow•n parts to
assume the Government? Without hesitation we answer that
there is not."

The literary contents of the prrsent number are of a
high order. 'There is an excellent review of Mr. Mackin-
non's work on Civilization. An interesting resume of the
contents of Captain Stokes's recently published account
of the voyage of the Beagle along the coasts of New
Holland, and graphic sketches of the Dukes of Richmond
and Buckingham, the Earl of Radnor, Mr. Villiers, and
Mr. Bright among the contemporary orators, besides
several other papers.

REPORT OF THE COMMISSION-
ERS ON METROPOLITAN TERMINI.
May it please your Majesty—We, the Commissioners
appointed by letters patent, under your Majesty's privy
seal, bearing date the 2d day of April, in the 9th year
of your Majesty's reign, to investigate and report upon
the various railway projects of which the termini are
proposed to be established within or in the immediate
vicinity of the metropolis, beg leave duti:ully to submit
to your Majesty, that we have called before us such
persons as we have judged to he, by reason of their situa-
tion, knowledge, and experience, most competent to
afford us correct information en the above-mentioned
subject, and that we hove required the production of such
books, documents, papers, and returns, as have appeared
to us calculated to assist our researches.
We have further to submit. that in obedience to your
Majesty's commands, signified to us through one of your
Majesty's principal Secretaries of State, we have directed
our attention to such portions of the several railways,
either now before Parliament, or projected, as come
within the following limits: that is to say, the Edge-
ware-road, from Oxford-street to the intersection of the
New-road; the New-road and the City-road, to Fins-
bury-square; Bishopwate-street, London-bridge, High-
street, Borough, Blackman-street, the Borough-road,
Lambeth-road, Vauxhall-road, Vauxhall- bridge, Vaux-
hall-bridge-road, Grosvenor-place, and Park-lane.
And that we have especially considered whether the
extension of railways into the centre of the metropolis
is calculated to afford such additional convenience or
benefit to the public as will compensate for the sacrifice
of property, the interruption of important thoroughfares,
and the interference with plans of improvement already
suggested.
We now humbly beg leave to lay before your Majesty
this our report.
We commenced our inquiry by collecting such docu-
mentary information, in the form of bills, prospectuses,
and plans, as would place us in possession of the general
features of the various schemes, whether before Parlia-
ment or not, by which it is proposed to bring the line or
terminus of any railway within or near to the limits
prescribed in our instructions.
The following list shows the number and designation
of all such projects as have come to our knowledge :-
1. An Extension of the Eastern Counties Railway to
Finsbury-square.
2. An Extension of the Eastern Counties Railway to
Fore-street.
3. The Tottenham and Farringdon-street Terminus.
4. The London and Birmingham Terminus at Farring-
don street.
5. The Direct London and Manchester Line, and the
London and Manchester Extension to the City.
6. The North London Junction Railway.
7. The Regent's Canal Railway.
S. The Direct Northern Railway Terminus in Hol-
born.
9. The Extension of the London and Birmingham to
the East and West India Docks.
10. The Central Terminus in Farringdon-street.
11. The Great Western, Brentford, and Central Junc-
tion Terminus Railway.
12, The Thames Embankment Central Terminus.
13. The London Railway.
14. The London Connecting Railway and Railway
Transit Line.
15. The National Junction Railway and City of London
Terminus Company.
16. The North Kent Railway.
17. South Eastern Extension to Waterloo-bridge.
ls. The South-Western Extension from the York-road
to London-bridge.
19. The West-End and Southern Counties Railway.
The list divides itself into two heads, viz., the lines
which approach London from the south side of the
Thames, and those which approach it from the north.
The first point, therefore, which presented itself for
our decision was whether the same considerations apply
equally to the admission of these two classes within the
limits named to us; that is, whether the convenience or
benefit which the public would derive from such admis-
sion bears in each case the same, or nearly the same pro-
portion to the injury which would be sustained from the
sacrifice of property, the interruption of thoroughfares,
and the interference with future improvements°
It is our opinion that this is not the case—and for the
following reasons:-
1. Setting aside, for the present, the question whether
any railway should be permitted to cross the Thames
within the metropolis, the termini which would offer the
greatest convenience, both to passengers and goods con-
veyed by the southern railways, may be described to be
Waterloo, or Hungerford-bridge, for the West of Lon-
don: and London-bridge for the City. The immediate
vicinities of these points are attainable by railways from
the south, with much less disturbance of house property
than would be caused by bringing the northern railways
to points of comparatively equal convenience on the
north side of the Thames.
2. The property to be disturbed is less valuable, and
consequently the cost of furnishing the accommodation
to the public would, on this account also, be proportion.
ably smaller.
3. The thoroughfares to be crossed on the south side
of the river are less important, and much fewer than
those on the north.
4. We have no evidence of any plans of street improve-
ments having been suggested on the south side which
would be interfered with by the projected lines of railway.
The only contemplated improvement which could in
any way be affected thereby, is the opening of a new
and commodious thoroughfare from the Waterloo-road
to the Borough ; and we have reason for believing that
this might be facilitated by the formation of a railway.
This case is not so on the north.
5. The ordinary traffic of the streets on the south
side is not so great as on the north ; it is less concen-
trated, and it runs through wider and more convenient
channels ; so that the additional traffic created by rail-
way termini could be more easily accommodated.
6. Those of the public who would be benefited by the
close approach of the southern railways to the city and
to the west-end of London are more in number than
those who would derive advantage from bringing the
Northern railways into the centre of the metropolis ; in-
asmuch as those parts of Surrey and Kent which are
within a short distance of London, are generally more
thickly inhabited by persons having occupations in Lon-
don, and are more frequented for occasional relaxation
than the corresponding parts of Essex, Middlesex, and
Hertfordshire.
7. The Legislature has already sanctioned the form-
ation of a line from the Nine Elms to the York-road,
near Waterloo-bridge, and the construction of a termi•
nits at the latter point.
These are the grounds upon which we draw a distinc-
tion between the smaller portion of the district described
in our instructions, which lies on the Surrey side of the
Thames, and in the larger and more important division
of it which is situated on the Middlesex side of the river;
and a careful consideration of them induces us to look
upon the close approach of the southern railways to the
eastern and western bridges of the metropolis in a more
favourable light than that in which we view the pro-
posed extension of northern lines into the City, or other
thickly inhabited districts of London.
We will now, in obedience to your Majesty's com-
mands, submit our opinion upon that question which we
are enjoined by our instructions as our especial duty to
consider, viz., whether the extension of railways into the
centre of the metropolis is calculated to afford such ad-
ditional convenience or benefit to the public as will com-
pensate for the sacrifice of property, the interruption of
important thoroughfares, and the interference with plans
of improvements already suggested ?
1. AS TO THE CONVENIENCE AND BENEFIT OF THE
PUBLIC.
We are of opinion that, as regards passengers, the
demand for that further accommodation which would
be given to them by extending the present lines
towards the centre of the metropolis, and the advantage
which would be derived from such accommodation, have
been much exaggerated.
It is no doubt true, that for persons proceeding to cr
from the city, the terminus of the Great Western, at
Paddington, is inconvenient ; and the same must be ad-
mitted of the Eastern Counties terminus at Shoreditch,
in regard to passengers to or from the west end of Lon-
don. And if these lines were to be laid dawn afresh, it
would perhaps be a benefit to the public at large, that
they should enter Loudon at points respectively east and
west of their present stations. We are led to this con-
clusion by the opinion which we find to pr; ail gene-
rally, and to be entertained by all those who are most
competent to form a judgment 9,n the subject, that the
station of the Birmingham Railway in Euston-square,
is, on the whole, situated conveniently for the great macs
of passengers. This opinion being supported by the fact that
the distribntion of passengers froth the various stations
in London may be estimated to take place in the propor-
tion of nine to the west, and four to the east of a line
drawn north and south through Temple Bar.*
And although it does not follo7 firct-ia this tna.t the ex-
tension of the G:eat Viresiiern, Or eVeh Of the Eastern
Counties line, in' the direction of Euston-square (even
Were'such'projeots before us), would deserve encorlragp-
ment, we feel that it fully justifies tzs in recommending
that if those Jives soul, seek to come fnAlier east and

THE DUBLIN UNIVERSITY MAGAZINE.
There is a dash of Harry Lorrequer in this number of
his quondam-magazine; it is by an anonymous but fa-
miliar contributor, and is the commencement of a series
of " Sketches of Burschen Life." It is quite impossible
not to participate in the exhilarating spirit flowing
through these chapters; they are redolent of goof
humour, and, while they initiate us into the mysteries
of the student's life in the German universities, they put
us on good terms with both students and universities.
Slicing an odd nose off in a duel, or lopping away a
casual ear in the like description of amusement, are un-
doubtedly drawbacks to such a condition of society in
the nineteenth century ; but, making this somewhat ex-
orbitant allowance for the excitement of youthful blood,
we are prepared to esteem henceforth every Bursch who
ever perambulates the streets of Manheim, be he a frog,
a camel, a fox, or a bemossed head—for such are the
eccentric titles of the German universitymen tall} ing
with the freshman, the sophister, and the senior of our
English universitymen ! Garnished with their chore-
caps and their meerschaums, and followed by their
trusty poodles, we would not unwillingly claim ac-
quaintance with any one of these students!; for, as this
writer assures us, and as we can likewise avouch, they
are about as intellectual and cordial a race of fellows as
can be found anywhere on the face of the earth.
There is a brotherly character about their friends
ship for each other which cannot fail to enhance
them in the eyes of every gregarious mortal.
We commend the procession of "farewell" at Heidel-
berg to the perusal of all Cantabs and Oxonians—it is a
pleasant and moving picture. The paper upon " Bell's
Life of Canning " is a somewhat slovenly piece of criti-
cism; nor can we fully comprehend the consistency of
the writer who declares that he "boldly impugns" Sir
Robert's policy in one sentence, and in another remon-
strates with Lord George Bentinck, for seeking " to
baffle a Government upon a measure in which they are
clearly right." Either he alludes in one instance to the
free-trade policy and in the other to the Coercion Bill,—
and, if so, makes a sad bungle in the expression of his
ideas—or the contradiction of opinion is attributable to
the compositor,—and, if so, it betrays a strange care-
lessness in the correction of the proofs : or the whole
error springs from the vascillating or confused notions
of the writer,—and, if so, is an egregious specimen of
his incompetency to express any decisive opinion upon
matters of such moment. Among the quotations from
the satirical fragments of Canning, we rejoice to en•
counter, yet once again, that inimitable travestie of.
Robert Southey's Sapphics, in which " the friend of
humanity " responds to the appeal for sixpence from the
" knifegrinder," in that memorable outbreak of indig-
nation—

" I give thee sixpence! I will see the damn'd first—
Wretch! whom no sense of wrongs can rouse to vengeance;
Sordid, unfeeling, reprobate, degraded,
Spiritless outcast 1"
" The Drama in connexion with the Fine Arts" is a
capital dissertation on the lamentation about the decay
of dramatic art. But, in the very eulogiums which it
lavishes upon some amongst those who still grace the
histrionic profession, we think the writer entirely sub-
verts his own proposition, that this decay is traceable to
the deficiency of good actors and actresses. During
the palmiest days of Siddons, and Kemble, and
Kean, the old playgoers were wont to shrug their
shoulders in deprecation of such performance with a
" Ha! you should have seen Garrick!" Precisely in
the same manner, Macready and Phelps, and Miss
Faucit and Vandenhoff, are contemned by a cry of
" Ah! 'you should have seen Miss O'Neill!" or what
not. The decay is traceable rather to the extreme fas
tidiousness of the age than to any exceeding paucity of
histrionic talent. Steven's " Memoirs of George Heriot"
are agreeably reviewed, and the cursory glance thus
taken of the ever-memorable " jingling Geordie" of
Scott will be relished by the readers of the magazine.
" The Ideal of Imitative Art" is likewise worthy of
praise, as an elegant group of gossiping remarks about
painting ; while " The Stepson" forms a very in-
teresting story, though a sOry rather suited for a
winter's evening and the ingle-nook, than for the
sultry days of July. Among the " continued" ar-
ticles we fray mention Carleton's powerful tale of
the "Irish Famine," and the picturesque "serial about
" Irish Rivers." We cannot possibly see the humour
of the pasquinade upon the martyr of the cellar, and
hovrevermuch Mr. William Smith O'Brien urty have
laid himself open to ridicule by his recent episode
upon Parliamentary business, we think he might have
been spared the punishment of suggesting a bad joke.
But for the importunate demands upon our space, we
should be tempted to extract the mystic and exquisite
verses entitled " The Wine Spilled ;" they form a
dainty decoration to the Dublin University.

See Table No. Z in Appendix to Evidence.

;

wes, they shout Ibe resriLtA-d to a 111‘,,;o v,hieli would
keep them outside the circle, or belt, d 3 : gibed in our in-
structions.

For the same reasons, as well es for ot;..r.rs which will
appear hereafter, we hav,o no hesitatirn in r-,..,:mmeneing
that the same rule should be strictly applir i t all new
railways of which the schemes have come under con
sideration.

We have stated that the advantages to the put lic o`
such accommodation as would be afforded to them by
bringing the railway stations further into the City
appear to us exaggerated. It must be observed, how-
ever, that traffic-tables, the usual data by which the d^-
tumid for railway accommodation, and the convenience
which it will bestow Upon the public, are estiamted, have
throughout our investigation baen very imperfectly fur-
nished to us. We do not mention this as a mner of
reproach to the promoters of the schemes which have
been brought under our consideration, for it is ma,dfestly
impssible to calculste the direction and extent of the
traffic which takes place to and from the different parts
of London and its suburbs, with the accuracy which is
expected in dealing with ordinary lines of railway
but because the want of such evidence has clmpelled
us to found our conclusions rather upon the judgment
of persons of experience, and upon our own observation,
than upon numerical returns.

It is by those passengers who constitute tl.e short
traffic on lines entering London, and who ara in the
daily habit of using a metropolitan railway, that the ad-
vantage of carrying the line as far as possible into the town,
would be most sensibly felt. But we have it in evidence
that the average distance travelled by passengers who ar-
rive at the Euston-square station is not less than 64 miles.
To passengers moving over this length of ground, avid.
it may be assumed, using the railway less frequently,
the saving of a mile or two, whether estimated in time
or money, is of comparatively little irn7,ortance. And
although it is likely that in the case of other lines which
may hereafter enter London from the north, this average
will be lower ; inasmuch as they may pass Cm rough dis-
tricts more frequented by persons having occucations in
the metropolis than any which are traversed by the
Birmingham Railway ; we are nevertheless of oz-inion,
that the probable demand for the better accommoLlation
of short traffic on those lines, would not justify such an
expenditure on the part of the companies, or such a sa-
crifice of property, as must result from carrying the
lines through the thickly inhabited parts o!. the metro

- BUS if these railway companies should deem it neces-
sary to offer to their passengers the means of convey-
ance to more parts of the metropolis than one, we are of
opinion that this might be effected with greater advan-
tage to all parties by branches skirting the town, and
terminating at points without the line described in our
instructions, than by penetrating within it.
If the convenience of passengers does not 41 for the
prolongation of railways into the heart of the metropo-
lis, still less does it require the establishment of any
cne central terminus, at which the railways from different
parts of the country should unite. We believe that the
number of passengers who desire to pass through Lon -
don, without quitting the railway, and to \shorn princi-
pally such an arrangement would be an advantage, is so
small as to be scarcely appreciable. We are contiOent
that it is not such as to justify the Legislature in sanc-
tioning the establishment of a terminus which would re
ceive the traffic of many lines, and be conducted under
divided management. Of the inconvenience, confusion,
and danger of such an arrangement, we have the strongest
and most authoritative evidnce.

As regards merchandise, the railways which are of
most importance as channels for its conveyance into the
commercial parts of London and of its suburbs, are
undoubtedly those which connect the metrow-dis with
the north and north-west of England. Anil's-kr,. we
are not called upon to consider the speed, so much as
the uniform and uninterrupted nature of the conveyance
and the diminution of expense.
It is our opinion supported by the evidence of expe-
rienced and very intelligent witnesses, that s 9 far as an
easy, unbroken, and economical communication between
the northern railways and the docks, or the east of Lon-
don generally, is concerned, the object can a more con-
veniently and surely attained by a line which should
pass outside the metropolis on the north, at sa._.ll a dis-
tance as to avoid interference with populous districts
and thronged thoroughfares, and so connect the goods
stations of the various railways from west to east with
each other, terminating at some convenient point on the
Thames or within the docks. Such a railway, it is true,
would not bring the merchandise of the north and west
so near to the warehouses in the City, as the prolonga-
tion of some of the northern lines to Faringdon-street,
Aldersgate-street, Fore-street, &c. ; but without antici-
pating the objections which we shall shortly have to
make to these projects, it is sufficient to observe that the
execution of any. or even all of them, must still leave the
communication with many of the warehousing districts
of London very incomplete ; and that, therefore, re-
course must still be had to conveyance by cart through
some of the most crowded thoroughfares.
To facilitate the transfer of goods, not only between
the northern railways and the commercial parts of Lon-
don, but between the northern and southern railways
respectively, and thereby to make the communication
between all parts of the country complete, it would be
necessary that the line which we have su.rgested should
cross the river to the west of the metropolis, to connect
itself with the South-Western, South-Eastern, and any
other lines that may approach the town on that side.
The course which it should take has not come specifi-
cally under our consideration, inasmuch as it would cer-
tainly lie beyond the limits laid down in our instructions;
but we have no hesitation in saying that such a line
might be constructed, answering all the commercial and
more important purposes of a central terminus, without
being liable to the objections which arise to this latter
scheme.

We have upon this head the valuable testimony of
your Majesty's Quartermaster-General, and o: the In-
spector-General of Fortifications, that whilst it is of the
utmost importance, with a view to the national de, once,
to establish an unbroken connexion between the rarways
of the north, south, and west, a circuitous communica•
tion for this purpose round London would, for military
purposes, be preferable to one which should necessitate
the conveyance of your Majesty's troops or stores
through a populous part of the metropolis.