CHAMBERS' EDINBURGH JOURNAL

CONDUCTED BY WILLIAM AND ROBERT CHAMBERS, EDITORS OF 'CHAMBERS'S
INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE,' 'CHAMBERS'S EDUCATIONAL COURSE,' &c.


No. 435. NEW SERIES. SATURDAY, MAY 1, 1852. PRICE 1-1/2_d._




FORCED BENEFITS.


The maxim, that men may safely be left to seek their own interest, and
are sure to find it, appears to require some slight qualification, for
nothing can be more certain, than that men are often the better of
things which have been forced upon them. Those who advocate the idea
in its rigour, forget that there are such things as ignorance and
prejudice in the world, and that most men only become or continue
actively industrious under the pressure of necessity. The vast
advantages derived from railway communication afford a ready instance
of people being benefited against their will. At the bare proposal to
run a line through their lands, many proprietors were thrown into a
frenzy of antagonism; and whole towns petitioned that they might not
be contaminated with the odious thing. In spite of remonstrances, and
at a vast cost, railways were made; and we should like to know where
opponents are now to be found. Demented land-proprietors are come to
their senses; and even recalcitrant Oxford is glad of a line to
itself.