the purpose, and the
unwillingness of English capitalists to embark their funds in a country
whose social and political condition they viewed with distrust, however
promising and even profitable the investment might otherwise appear.
This was remarkably illustrated by the instance of the Great Southern
and Western Railway of Ireland, one of the undertakings of which the
completion was arrested by want of funds, yet partially open. Compared
with a well-known railway in Great Britain, the Irish railway had cost
in its construction L15,000 per mile, and the British upwards of L26,000
per mile; the weekly traffic on the two railways, allowing for some
difference in their extent, was about the same on both, in amount
varying from L1,000 to L1,300 per week; yet the unfinished British
railway was at L40 premium in the market, and the incomplete Irish
railway at L2 discount. It was clear, therefore, that the commercial
principle, omnipotent in England, was not competent to cope with the
peculiar circumstances of Ireland.

Brooding over the suggestions afforded by the details which we have
slightly indicated, Lord George Bentinck, taking into consideration
not merely the advantage that would accrue to the country from the
establishment of a system of railroads, but also remembering the
peculiar circumstances of the times, the absolute necessity of employing
the people, and the inevitable advance of public money for that purpose,
framed a scheme with reference to all these considerations, and which
he believed would meet all the conditions of the case. He spared no
thought, or time, or labour, for his purpose. He availed himself of the
advice of the most experienced, and prosecuted his researches ardently
and thoroughly. When he had matured his scheme, he had it thrown into
the form of a parliamentary bill by the ablest hands, and then submitted
the whole to the judgment and criticism of those who shared his
confidence and counsels. Towards the end of November he was at Knowsley,
from whence he communicated with the writer of these pages. 'I am here
hatching secret plans for the next session; and now, if you have not
quite abjured politics, as you threatened for the next three months to
do, devoting yourself to poetry and romance, I think I ought to have a
quiet day with you, in order that we may hold council together and talk
over all our policy. I shall be at Harcourt House on the 30th. I shall
stay there till the 3rd of Decem