The Sun.
London, England, 1845-10-21 00:00:00

test by which to determine the expediency of constructing
one of these very costly and extensive works. Places that
had no previous trade or importance have sprung up, from
the mereaccident of their vicinity to railways passing near
their site, into sudden favour—into the residences of increasing
populations, and the seats of rapidly accumulating opulence.
All that has been fabled of the magic powers of the ring, and
the lamp of Aladdin, in Oriental story, has been realised
by the marvels which railway enterprise has worked
from wild or neglected' tracts of country in the three
kingdoms within the' last ten "years. Of` these ten
years the last five-have -as much eclipsed the former
in-the number, magnitude, -and results of the railroads de•
signed and, accomplished, as the former surpassed in these
respects the old " railed tramways of the seventeenth cen-
tury," described by Lord Keeper NORTH, in 1676, as "being
of immense benefit to the coal-masters of the north." A fa-
miliar- example of the rapid growth of these "roadside"
and flourishing communities, which are still more common in
Lancashire.and-Yorkshire than in the southern counties of
England, is furnished• by the town of Kingston-upon-Rail
'raised like a cereal crop in a single years and in every suc-
ceeding year more and more expanding its dimensions over
the converted pastures and meadows adjacent to the South-
Western - Railway: Greenwich, from a small fishing
town, repaired.. to. by the inhabitants of the me-
tropolis only for the beauty of its: park, and the more
than royal magnificence of its Hospital, has risen : in
a very few years, mainly in virtue of_ the railway established
between it and London, to its present importance, nuipbering
.nearly 45,000 • inhabitants, possessing a retail trade of an
extent and prosperity of which it would be difficult to show
any-superior example, and returning- its Members to Parlia-
paent. But the grandeur and importance 'of Birkenhead,
with the unrivalled ,docks, basins, and . public• buildings
which it possesses, its liberal 'and sanitary accommodatiOns
and provision for its industrial poor,- its gigantic advancei as
a. formidable rivalry to the almost imperial wealth and long-
established commercial consequence of Liverpool, or the oppo-
site shore of the Mersey—these are creatures born, as it were,
but - yesterday, and already the - astonishment of
Europe. They have sprung into existence, unquestionably,
in_ virtue of the happy preced‘ nt of established railways
in Cheshire and Lancashire. Doubtless, the natural capabili•
ties for the. improvements of scientific art-were, always the
same; but 'it was reserved for the establishment of so many
lines of railway communication in its neighbourhood to
develop them.
,With these views on. the, general subject !‘.railways,"
and. allowing fur the qualifications such views. ,are liable to,
by reason of occasional ill-devised projects or practical
failures in construction ; we confess_ that_ we are indisposed
to concur in the tone „ of, alarm and deprecation respecting
them which we recognise, lately, in the remarks of a morning
paper on the results that may ensue from the degree of public
favour extended to them. Hitherto, at whatever expense
they have' been formed, the aggregate of millions in-
'vested in bond fide lines now in full operation,
has yielded a very handsome return of interest. The
amount of accommodation for the simple objects of travelling
from one part of the kingdoin to the other—the facilities for,
and consequent enlargement of, the domestic and, to a great.
extent, the foreign trade of the empire—the removal of pre-
judices—the diffusion of that knowledge and thoSe en-
lightened views which are the results of personal observation
only, and, therefore, identified in a peculiar manner with the
establishment of railroads—the enormous and economical
machinery they supply to Government for the . transmission
cf troops, stores, intelligence with almoit intellectual
rapidity; these are' properties that would alone entitle
them to that respect and patronage • which they
so largely, receive from a liberal public. Now, if
the prodigious sums expended on the promotion of
the lines that are partially or entirely completed and work-
ing, have turned out to be so well invested, the fair presump-
tion is in faVour of a similar result attending the outlay of
that capital which will be called for by the numerous pro-
jects thatavill, next year, be commenced out of the multitu-
dinous number of those announced to the public, that will' be
either abandoned, or speedily relinquished, after a few steps
of preliminary progress shall have been made in them. It is
found-that the receipts on working lines have already so
wonderfully exceeded all that was anticipated from them,
that the mere surplus of the returns over the market rate of
interest, represents a new and realised capital of very many
millions sterling., When we reflect to how large an amount
of engineering talent, and mechanical industry and labour; and
landed and chattel property that had previously lain dor-
mant, and but for these great works must, in all probability,
have continued to do so, these railway undertakings have
given development, remunerating wages, and unremitting
employment, we must acknowledge that domestic capital has
never been more wisely or beneficially employed among us,
irrespectively of the consideration of the superior profits it
has earned in these applications of its productive powers-
We may be thought bad political economists for 'doing so,
though we should find little difficulty, we think, in
.esta-
blishing the validity of the grounds on which our appre-
hensions are founded—when we confess to the painful ins•
pressiona under which we regard the' immense and yet
growing application of British capital to foreign railways.
No temporary advantages which our countrymen may derive
from investing their mosey in them can compensate for the
impolitic improvidence with which we are assisting other
nations to rival, with animplement suppliedhy ourselves, our
own success in extending and consolidating, by means of
railways, the foundations of our domestic prosperity and
national grandeur. But tb devote all the energies of that
iMplement•to these beneficial ends in our own country, and
at the same time to impart the full benefit of their exercise in
the shape of an immense outlay of remunerating wages on
our own domestic labour, does Seem to us to be among the
most salutary, and wise, and• permanent efforts upon which
British enterprise can employ its all but boundless resources
and sagacity, as well as its capital.