The following table, which has been compiled chiefly from Consular returns, will show that it is not in England alone that this great invention has been encouraged. Every European power of eminence that contains a seaport within its territory, as well as several of the minor states, have vessels steaming under their respective flags. In the United States of America this method of conveyance for passengers and goods has been adopted with all the energy for which the American citizens are so remarkable. It is not unlikely that the returns from which the above abstract has been made, may omit some vessels of this kind in their enumerations, but these omissions cannot be to any great extent; and it thus appears that the progress made by this country in the adoption of this new and great invention is fully equal to everything hitherto accomplished by all other countries in the aggregate. CHAPTER V. RAILWAYS. Earliest Employment of Railroads in England-Number of Acts of Parliament for incorporating Railroad Companies-Traffic on Liverpool and Manchester Line-Railways completed to 1849-Railway Traffic and Revenues 1845-9-Effect upon Post Communications Anticipated Improvements-Pecuniary Saving to the Public-Railway AccidentsSums expended in obtaining Acts of Incorporation-Government Survey of Lines in Ireland-Persons employed on Railways-Railways in Belgium-In America. It has been said that railways were first brought to use in this country at the beginning of the seventeenth century, when they were employed in some of the Newcastle collieries. The railways then constructed were, however, very different from the scientifically-constructed works to which we are now accustomed to apply that name, and it was long before any progress was made towards their improvement. They were at first constructed altogether of timber, and it was not until 1767 that the first experiment was made, and that upon a very small scale, to determine the advantage of substituting iron for the less durable material. Nor does it appear that this experiment was successful or followed by any practical result, for in a volume published by Mr. Carr, in 1797, he sets up his claim to be considered the inventor of cast-iron rails. The railways which were constructed up to the beginning of the present century were all private undertakings, and each was confined to the use of the establishment--generally a colliery-in which it occurred. The public railways of England are strictly creations of the present century. It was in 1801 that the first Act of Parliament for the construction of a work of this kind received the sanction of the legislature. The following table shows that the total number of Acts passed since that time has been 1111, of which 615 were for new lines of railway. Number of Acts of Parliament for constructing Railways, 1801-1849. The sums which Parliament has authorized various companies to raise for the construction of railways in each year, from 1826 to 1849, are as follows: : The total amount thus sanctioned during the above 24 years was 348,012,1887., and the yearly average 14,500,5087. It is a singular fact, that of all the railways constructed and contemplated up to the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester line, not one was undertaken with a view to the conveyance of passengers. In the prospectus published by the projectors of that work, it was indeed held out as probable that one-half of the number of persons then travelling by coaches between the two towns might avail themselves of the railway in consideration of the lower rate for which they would be conveyed, and the Directors expected to realize an income of 20,000l. per annum from that source; but the chief inducement held out to subscribers was the conveyance of raw cotton, manufactured goods, coals, and cattle. The following table (see p. 329), containing a statement of the actual traffic upon the railway from its opening in September, 1830, to Midsummer, 1836, and from the 1st of July, 1840, to the 1st of July, 1845, will show how much the anticipations of the projectors were at variance with the result. The great success attending this splendid work being in a principal degree attributable to the passengers conveyed by it, the chief inducement thenceforward to embark in similar undertakings has been the number of travellers and not the amount of goods to be conveyed. Hitherto it has been found, in nearly every case where a railroad adapted for carrying passengers has been brought into operation, that the amount of travelling between the two extremities of the line has been quadrupled. In the case of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, the income derived from passengers enabled the Company to meet a large amount of extraordinary expenses, and to divide regularly 10 per cent. annually upon the capital, although the outlay in the construction of the work was more than double the sum contemplated in the original estimates. The progress of traffic on the London and Birmingham Railway in each half-year, to 30th June, 1845, has been as follows: |