ur, private
interest, or any other element that might disturb the course of
equity, and therefore their decisions are received on all sides with
reverential acquiescence. Why should not the private business of the
country be placed upon the same footing? Let there be three
commissions issued--three permanent local boards established in
England, Scotland, and Ireland, under the superintendence, if
necessary, of the Board of Trade; let Parliament lay down rules for
their guidance, and let every measure which at present would be
launched _de plano_ into the House of Commons, be first submitted to
their consideration; and let their determination to reject or postpone
be final, unless the legislature shall see fit, by a solemn vote, to
reverse that portion of their report. In this way a multitude of loose
and undigested schemes would be thrown back upon the hands of their
promoters, without clogging the wheels of Parliament; and such only as
bear _ex facie_ to be for the public advantage, would be allowed to
undergo the more searching ordeal of a committee. These boards would
literally cost the country nothing, even although the constituent
members of them were paid, as they ought to be for the performance of
such a duty, very highly. Each company applying for a bill might be
assessed to a certain amount, corresponding to the value of its stock;
as it is but fair that the parties who have created the exigency, and
whose avowed object is profit, should defray the attendant expense.

Supposing that the principle of these boards were admitted, it seems
to us that Parliament has still to exercise a great and serious duty
in laying down rules for their guidance. This is perhaps the most
difficult subject connected with the railway system; and we approach
it with diffidence, as it is inseparable, nay, must be based upon the
two grand considerations of CAPITAL and LABOUR. We shall endeavour to
explain our meaning a little more minutely.

The reader will gather from what we have written above, that we
entertain no fear that the nominal capital invested in the railways
_which have already received the sanction of Parliament_, is now more
than the surplus capital floating in the country which can be applied
to such a purpose without injuring any portion of our staple
manufactures or commerce. On the contrary, we think that it is very
greatly below that mark, and therefore that it matters little, in a
general point of view, by whom t