RAILWAYS IN IRELAND.

Ai length the Irish Railway question, which " out of doors" has caused such an overflow of' speech and ink in so many forms—in pamphlets, reviews, newspaper articles, harangues and resolutions at public meetings—is fairly before Parliament. The House of Commons has agreed, by a preliminary vote in Committee, to ad- vance two millions and a half of the public money for the construc- tion of a railway from Dublin to Cork, with branches to Limerick and Clonmel. It is doubtful whether the Government will ven- ture to proceed further. The resolution, passed on Friday the 1st instant, was to have been "reported" last night ; but Lord JOHN Russem. has stopped in his course, and has not yet fixed on what day, if at all, the House will be called upon to confirm the vote. There is sufficient cause for Ministerial apprehension of defeat. The resolution was carried by 144 to 100; but several Members declined to vote against it, who nevertheless will oppose the means of giving it practical efficacy. Sir ROBERT PEEL is one of these.

Weighty reasons call for the rejection of the Government pro- position. And though, as applied to any proceeding of the Re- formed Parliament, it may seem a joke to speak of principle, we must begin with the mention of that old-fashioned word, before we can get over the threshold. The produce of public taxes ought to be applied to public purposes only : common contributions should be expended for the common benefit. Such is the condition on which they are made. The principle of justice, involved in the virtual compact with the Government under which taxes are paid by the people, is manifestly violated, when large sums are bestowed on favoured portions of the country. Docks for vessels of war, fortifications, barracks, customhouses, and establishments of this description, are national, and therefore must be constructed at the national cost. But the merchants of' Liverpool have no claim upon the public purse for the cost of their docks. It is not pretended that Bristol ought to pay any part of it. To make a railway from Dublin to Cork at the public expense, is as clear a violation of the principle of justice to all, as a Treasury grant for the construction Of docks or piers at Liverpool would be. To overcome the force of this objection in Purism, a stronger case for the exceptional policy, recommended by Government, must be presented, than its advos eines have made out : and it is upon them that the burden of proof lies.

Some tell us that the principle in question has been infraeted over and over again. This may pass for a taunt—not for a justifi- cation. On the contrary, experience of what has been done over amid over again, teaches, that adequate compensation, in the shape ot benefit to particular districts, fur the wrong done to the com- munity at large, is not to be expected. With very rare exceptions, public works have been failures, especially in Ireland. The advo- cates of what is called " private enterprise "—that is, of' railway schemes projected, anti in some instances partly executed, by indi- viduals, unaided by the Government—have not been slow to,pre- sent evidence of the indiscretion and profligate waste Which has 'characterized the expenditure of Parliamentary grants. One of

these, Mr. LEWIS SMYTH, is well known in connexion with the subject of Irish Railways : that gentleman, in a recent pamphlet,* furnishes many facts, taken from official documents, against the presumption that in the disposal of this railway-money, we can look for caution or economy. Bearing in mind that Mr. SMYTH is a private-enterprise agent, we see no reason why his authenti- cated statements should not be used as warnings.

Since the Union, the Imperial Parliament has voted—

For the improvement of Inland Navigation in Ireland £1,190,528 0 1

For the improvement of Harbours and Roads 1,077,299 12 1

£2,267,827 12 2

To this amount, the Whig Government,through the present Board of Works, established in 1831, have added 937,7001. (The chief of the Board of Works is evidently chief Railway Commissioner also.) The works on which these sums have been expended are incom- plete, and large drafts on the Treasury for their continuance are constantly made ; but there is no corresponding profit. On the contrary, the various undertakings present large debts, scarcely any dividends, and overwhelming difficulties. Take, as not an unfair example, the Dublin and Kingstown Railway. Being essentially a " Government aid-and-control" work, it may serve as a warning against pursuing the same plan on a larger scale.

" It was approved by the Government Board, recommended by them to Parliament, and has been principally built with the public Money. No less than 20,000/. a mile have bees advanced by the Irish Board of Works to the Directors, in addition to 70/. a share paid by the Company; and, by the terms of the act of Parliament, under which this liberal assistance has been given, the Commissioners had. to satisfy themselves, by a survey, made by their own -engi- neer, of the excellence of the line, and the propriety of the steps taken, or about to be taken, for its completion and maintenance. Having entered, as mort- gagees, upon the works, and become superintendents of them, they assumed a direct control over all the proceedings of the Company. Greater powers, in this respect, could not have been reasonable demanded by any Government Rail- way Board it is possible to erect. And what has been the consequence ? Here is a railway constructed in the very terms of the Railway Report : Govern- ment advanced, by way of loan, a considerable proportion of the amount of the estimates at the lowest rate of interest, and upon the easiest terms of repay- meat; a Government Board encouraged, directed, and controlled the applica- tion of the money, an11 the making of the work : and what, I repeat, is the consequence? Just this. The Dublin and Kingstown Railway is about the dearest, the least remunerative, and the worst work of the kind in the Three Kingdoms. It cost 40,0001. a mile, while the Liverpool and Manchester line cost only 30.000/. The number of passengers carried has exceeded the Par- liamentary estimate ; the annual revenue has also proved. greater than was cal- culated upon ; but the dividend to the shareholders has been amongst the lowest of the low. It appears, moreover, by tlw Public Works Report for last year, that even the low interest upon the Government loan is falling into ar- rear.'" By details drawn from official sources, Mr. SMYTH shows, that the sum total of money spent in Ireland under the direction and control of different Government Boards and Commissioners, cannot be less than live millions sterling.; while the total revenue is only 71,242/.! small encouragement to persevere in the plan of improving Ireland by expenditure of public funds, does past ex- perience hold forth. Now what of the future:? The Report of the Irish Railway Commissioners itself raises suspicion that another huge job, under the name of national benefit, is contemplated here also. In England, the plan adopted in marking out railway lines has been, to follow existing streams of traffic and travelling. The theory of the Commissioners is, to create new lines of profit and population—not to follow those already in existence : and this plan accounts in part for their prefenCnce of comparatively unpeopled districts. But not only, on this plan, must the period of profitable return for the capital invested be in- definitely postponed—the consequences must be injurious to the towns left out of their lines of' communication. What would have been said in England, if the Government had taxed the entire country to construct a railway from Manchester to Lon- don, avoiding most of the principal intervening places? There are many towns now suffering severely from the diversion of truffle and travelling effected by the London, Birmingham, and Liverpool Railroads; but the dwellers in those places can- not complain either that new lines of communication have been perversely made for their injury, or that Government has interfered for that purpose. In Ireland the case is different : it is plain that, in pursuance of the Commissioners' schemes, much trade, travel- ling, and population, will be forced out of their present and natural channels, to the great injury of a portion of the most valu- able of' the Irish people. We wonder not at the strenuous opposi- tion given in rummy towns to the Commissioners' project. It would infallibly occasion extensive changes in the value of property, to the detriment of precisely that class whom the Government, if it interfere at all, ought to foster and protect—the enterprising in- habitants of existing towns.

It has been a common complaint, that in Ireland people are too much accustomed to rely upon the Castle. The Marquis of LANSDOWNE declaimed finely on this point when defending the Irish Corporation Bill,—framed, he said, with the view to teach Irishmen to manage their own affairs. Well, what happens ?—in several parts of Ireland, persons of property and influence combine together for the purpose of establishing an improved mode of in- tercommunication: they engage engineers, procure estimates, go to Parliament and obtain their Acts ; and when they are preparing to break ground, out comes this Government scheme, and blows their enterprise in the air.

* Observations on the Report of the Irish Railway Commissioners, with a Review of the Failures, am By GronuE LEWIS SMYTH. Published by . In Ireland, no doubt, there is a strong party favourable to the sonal supporters—when cnndidates for the privilege of admitted" proposed outlay in that country. Irish landowners are aware that were compelled to wait for distant vacancies, and when the ". to the Phdharmome Concerts were regarded in musical circles with the value of property in England has been greatly enhanced by the construction of railroads in its vicinity ; and that land needed for envy similar to that which is directed to the " exclusives" at Almack's railroads has been sold at twenty times its previous value. It would Alas those days are past. The concert-roomon Monday night was not more than three quarters-filled,—scarcely, if it all, a larger audience be very pleasant, if by an expenditure of public money upon their than the Quartet Concerts assemble ; many of whom seemed to drop in and estates, Irish gentlemen should be enabled to metal their own for- drop out like the frequenters of the shilling promenades at the Lyceum, tunes. Mr. HARVEY, we see, has given notice of a motion for the and more than half retired long before the concert terminated. Much names of the persons through whose property the Railroad between wonder and some indignation is expressed at this change ; bat those Dublin and Cork will pass, distinguishing Members of either House who have honoured our musical lueubrations with their perusal, will ease of Parliament : this return may disclose secrets worth knowing. qf been prepared for it. For some years past the Philharmonic Concerts course, the expenditure of several millions of English money, in any have lost their true character and abandoned their primary design. A

seat in the direction has been sought and. held fin. successive years by way, by anybody, will be gladly hailed by multitudes, ready to turn round upon Parliament anti laugh at its simplicity. In case of failure

of profit and other means of repayment, a rate is to be imposed on tickets have been made subservient to election purposes, and Directors'

the districts through which the railway passes ; but unfathomable

gagement. These and similar abuses sve have front time to time eie must be his credulity who expects a shilling from such a source. posed. predicting at the same time the decline of the Society, unless the The history of the Million Loan is not forgotten ; and that is only remedy were forthwith unsparingly applied. The wrath of the music- one out of six millions lent to Ireland, on security which has :11s- jobbers followed of course, anti we were denounced as the enemies of appeared. the Philharmonic. " Their craft was in danger ; " and they shouted Some persons may say, that supposing the money is to be a gift, amaiu, " Great is Diana of the Ephesians I" We regarded all this nmre the generosity would not be impolitic. Three years ago, there would in sorrow than in anger. The reproach of such BB■n we were quite have been less reluctance in the people of England to listen to content to bear, but we cannot with equal serenity sebmit to the loss of such a plea. But it has been discovered that the majority of the such elements of power and pleasure as the Philharmonic orchestra professing Liberal Representatives of Ireland are ever ready to feared—not hoped—for the fulfilment et' ur sacrifice Imperial interests, and political principle, to what they call dietions; and they have been too surely accomplished. It is now seen who were the honest friends and who the selfish and secret foes of the Irish objects. There is therefbre little disposition to bestow moi.e Society. We fear that reform is now too late. The receipts of the millions upon them. The people of Englaud have no inclination season will fall far short of its expenses, whieli -must be met by a drain to pamper supporters of Corn-laws, placehunters, and Whig stitch- on the funds of the Society ; :mid the next season will he commenced Rtes. Let it be a consolation to the Irish gentlemen, that they with means further diminished, and, if the concert of Monday night be failed not to profit by the days of credulity. taken as a sample of the rest, with reputation not increased. And thus It may be said, that to make railways and otherwise improve in- will be accelerated the downward progress of the Philharmonic Con- tereommunication, would be a cheap mode of civilizing the people. certs: approaching poverty will necessitate a more stingy expenditure; The Government, however, does not propose to expend any put'- this, in turn, will further decrease the treasurer's receipts ;and the whole tion of the millions they require, in that part of Ireland which affair will break up. This is its natural progress and its destined end, needs assistance most. •Not a penny is to be laid out in Con- looking at the existing state and tendency of things. 'Plisse esy be naught. The inhabitants of that province, the poorest in Ireland, changed, and the sentence of dissolution may be reversed : bat the cha- racter, object, and management of the Society must be changed, or its are to pay for railways in Leinster and Munster. Vet, if principle doom is settled. is to be violated, and the country at large is to lie taxed for the There has been a talk of LA VORTE'S Setting up an opposition Pitilhan benefit of a part, the most needy should be that part. If the ob- inonie; and the probability is that he will. fiat the pear not -.,'Ll ripe, ject is the pacification and impt.ovement of a turbulent and pau- With his conomind of instrumental aud his meimpoly of a certain eltets perized population, by means of a large Government expenditure, of vocal power, the establislineset of a nowerati rival to :lie Pitilhar- Connaught should come first in order. monic Concerts would be easily accomplished. To such a le,,sible

Should the job go on, we will return to its further exposure. attack should have been opposed energy, veal. knowledge, and i"delity.