belong. Introduced for the purpose of facilitating locomotion, and
thus improving the industry of the country, this new system of
transit was calculated to produce rather an eventual and permanent,
than an immediate benefit to the empire. So long as Great Britain
retains and cultivates the resources of trade and manufactures now
at her disposal, and provided no new method of locomotion be
invented which shall supersede railways, there is every reason to
believe that railways will continue to form an ever-increasing
source of wealth to the nation. That this is an opinion very
generally entertained is proved from the vast sums of money which
are now lent out on the faith that this result will be realised. The
railway system has not only created a new field for speculation, but
likewise a new security for monetary investments. At the close of
1848, upwards of L.43,000,000 was lent upon railways. There is every
reason to believe that debenture-holding is much greater now than it
was then; but as no official report of its amount, so far as we
know, has been published since 1848, we, for accuracy's sake, quote
the return made in that year.

If railways have produced very important effects upon commercial
affairs, they have exercised an influence not less important in a
social and intellectual point of view. They have been greatly
instrumental in removing prejudices, in cementing old and forming
new friendships, in extending information, and in sharpening
ingenuity.

Prejudice has been one of the most formidable obstacles to the
spread of civilisation. It has for ages kept separate and at enmity
nations born to bless and benefit each other; propped up systems
whose graver errors or weaker absurdities now form subjects of