without having recourse to any adventitious aids to stimulate the spirit of adventure-by simply making known, far and wide, the sterling merits of the undertaking the greater part of the capital was subscribed before the second reading of the Bill. In point of numbers, the shareholders residing in, or connected with, the counties themselves, bore a fair proportion to those having no local interest in the line; but the amount of capital subscribed for by them was little more than one-twelfth of the whole. Without the powerful assistance, therefore, derived from other and distant parts-from Manchester, Birmingham, Bristol, Bath, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dublin, and, above all, from Liverpool, the opulent and intelligent citizens of which, ever foremost in the encouragement of great enterprises, at once subscribed for upwards of 12,000 shares of the Company's stock-it may with perfect truth be said, that the undertaking must have fallen (for the present at least) to the ground.

Notwithstanding the success which had so far crowned their exertions, the Directors were still but in the midst of their difficulties. A parliamentary opposition had yet to be encountered-an opposition, as it happened, of a more than usually obstinate character. There were two rival lines in the field, both of more recent suggestion than the Eastern Counties Railway, neither of them well suited to the wants of these counties, but both, nevertheless, very respectably supported. There was also a formidable array of dissenting owners and occupiers, headed by gentlemen of great parliamentary influence, and to all appearance irreconcileably opposed to the undertaking.

It was under these circumstances, with no ordinary anxiety, that the Directors proceeded before Parliament, and by no ordinary exertions that they were enabled to maintain their ground there, against the serious opposition with which they were met. The second reading of the Bill in the House of Commons was not carried without a division; and in the Committee, to which it was referred, were several of the most active members of that minority who voted for throwing it out. So strong, however, was the case proved in evidence for the Bill, and in so conciliatory a spirit were the opposing parties met and arranged with out of doors, that in a short time all opposition was at an end, and the Committee unanimously agreed to a report to the House in favour of the measure, which concludes in the following highly recommendatory terms:

"Your Committee think it right to add that, according to the evidence adduced, the Eastern Counties Railway, between the termini, would traverse the most populous and most cultivated parts of the counties through

which it is intended to be carried, and that great benefit would be given to trade and agriculture by its adoption."

After the Bill had passed the Commons, several new and powerful opponents sprung up; but the Directors, by meeting the parties with the same promptness, and in the same fair spirit, which had carried them successfully through their previous negotiations, effected amicable arrangements with them also, and the Bill was finally passed by the House of Lords, as one, which was now on all hands allowed to have for its object, the accomplishment of a measure of great public utility.

The Directors, in giving this brief history of the undertaking, would have been disposed to dwell less on the difficulties they have had to encounter and have overcome, could they by a more reserved course have equally well justified to their constituency the price at which success has been purchased.

The shareholders will see, in the expedition with which the Parliamentary plans, sections, and books of reference were executed -in the more than usual breadth of country which was surveyed-in the great number of persons that it was requisite to employ for that purpose, at a time when hands for employment of this description were scarce, and their terms of remuneration proportionally high-in the numerous agencies which had to be put in motion in order to raise so large an amount of capital-in the many opponents who had to be negotiated and arranged with -and in the very short period within which nearly the whole of these things were trans acted; the shareholders will see in all this, reasons sufficient for anticipating a much larger amount of expenditure than would, under less extraordinary circumstances, have certainly sufficed.

As it is, however, the Directors believe that, compared with other railway contests, this will not be found to have been more costly than usual; and; instead of having occasion to bespeak your patience for an exhausted exchequer, they are happy to announce that, large as their expenditure has been, they have still in hand a large and unencumbered balance.

From the balance-sheet annexed it will be seen that the total receipts of the Company up to the present date amount to 61,8457, 2s. 9d. The claims brought against the Company have, by careful revision of these claims, and allowances conceded for prompt payment, been reduced by 23837.; making the net amount of the expenditure, 36,5611 19s. 2d.; deducting which from the monies received (61,8451. 2s. 9d.), the balance remaining in hand is 25,815l. 2s. 9d.

When the Directors look to the magnitude of the object, which the sum thus expended

has been the means of achieving, they think they may fairly congratulate the shareholders upon the general result. In a single session, with no more delay than the forms of Parliament rendered unavoidable, this Company has obtained its Act of Incorporation ;-that for which other proprietaries have had to struggle through several sessions, and to pay twice and thrice as much ;-an Act of Incorporation, too, which secures to them the perpetual proprietorship of one of the best lines of railway in the whole kingdom, with all the great profits legitimately derivable therefrom.

The Eastern Counties is not only the longést integral line of railway which has yet obtained the sanction of Parliament, but traverses a larger extent of cultivated and highly productive country than any other; those districts from which the immense population of the metropolis derives its chief supplies of agricultural and marine produce.

From the peninsular character, too, of this portion of England, washed as it is on three sides by the German Ocean and the Thames, it is obvious, that a main-trunk line, which follows, as this does, the ancient and longestablished course of traffic, and touches at nearly all the places of greatest business, must draw and keep to itself the great bulk of the carrying trade of the district. Other railways may be interfered with, but this never can. As a great main line, it must always stand alone-dividing with no other railway, though receiving the tributary contributions of many.

Another novel and important feature of the Eastern Counties line is, that, notwithstanding its great length, there will not, from beginning to end, be a single tunnel.

If at one or two points it goes wider of considerable towns than could be wished, this has arisen from no indifference to the wants of those places, but from the necessity of consulting the general interests of the whole line, and of the majority of those who are to use it, in preference to all minor considerations.

The Eastern Counties Railway will have completely fulfilled the purpose for which it was designed, if it serve as the great trunk line of this part of the kingdom, from which branches may radiate into as many of the outlaying districts on both sides, as possess traffic enough to pay for this superior means of communication.

Already not less than six railways, branching from the Eastern Counties line, have been projected with apparently fair prospects of success; all of which, when executed, must contribute more or less to swell the profits of this Company, without involving the necessity of any addition whatever to its capital.

The Directors desire particularly to call attention to the Thames Haven Railway, for

which an Act of Parliament was obtained in the last session of Parliament, and which is to branch off from the Eastern Counties at Romford. The capabilities of this line are undeniably great. Were it to do no more than introduce into the heart of Essex a more abundant supply of coal, it would confer an incalculable advantage on that county, and pay the adventurers well; but should it also become, as its projectors confidently anticipate, the great channel for the conveyance of an article of such universal consump tion as coal to the metropolis, it would be difficult to assign a limit to its value in a financial point of view. The point chosen for its seaward termination offers also such facilities as a steam-packet station, that there seems strong reason to hope for a large accession of passenger-traffic to both railways from this source.

Next in local order, follow the Maldon Witham and Braintree, the Harwich, the Ips-, wich and Bury, the Beccles Bungay and Harleston, and the Norwich and Leicester, branches, which embrace among them nearly all the principal towns of the three counties, which were necessarily left at a distance in the setting out of the main trunk line, but will be now brought by these branches into immediate and productive connexion with it.

To these branches there is yet another to be added, which, though not projected with a view to the wants of any part of the districts immediately intersected by the Eastern Counties Pailway, will in all probability prove one of its most valuable tributaries. The Directors allude to the recently projected line of railway from London to Rochester and Chatham, through Essex; the communication between the opposite sides of the Thames being effected by a short steam-ferry at Tilbury and Gravesend. By taking advantage of the Eastern Counties and Thames Haven lines for about seventeen miles of the entire distance, this railway will be executed for one-fifth of the cost of any line that can be executed along the Kentish side of the river. Although this line takes what may at first sight seem a circuitous course, it will, in fact, be little longer than a straight line between the two termini, and exceed by one mile only the distance by the present high road. number of passengers to and from those parts of Kent, to which this railway will present the shortest possible communication with the metropolis, exceeds at present one million; and assuming that one-fourth only of this immense passenger-traffic will fall to the share of this railway, this will add 25,0007. per annum to the revenue of the Eastern Counties Railway, from a source never thought of, or taken into account in the original calculations of its promoters.

The

According to the estimates, which were produced in evidence before the Committee of

the House of Commons, and reported by that Committee to be verified to their satis faction, the traffic of the Eastern Counties Railway will yield a return of 22 per cent, on the capital required for its formation. The Directors have since tested this result in a variety of ways; but so far from seeing any reason to doubt its accuracy, they incline to think that the real facts of the case would have fully justified even a higher estimate.

No credit whatever was taken in the Eastern Counties Railway estimates for any of the passenger-traffic from transmarine sources, as that traffic was, at best, of a contingent character. But, unless the Di rectors are greatly mistaken, the traffic from these sources alone will suffice to pay the entire expense of working the line, leaving all the revenue derivable from the home traffic to count as so much clear gain.

The counties of Essex, Suffolk, and Norfolk, stand in such a geographical position as regards the northern continent of Europe, and the eastern coast of Scotland, as to offer the nearest route by railway from all these parts to the British metropolis. Steam vessels from any continental port north of the Texel, or from any port on the east of Scotland, by putting into Yarmouth, which they can now do with the greatest facility at all times of the tide, and landing their passengers there, will enable them to reach London by the Eastern Counties Railway, from fifteen to twenty-four hours sooner than they can now do by water, and, on occasions of contrary weather, even two days sooner. To the steampackets again, from the more southern ports of Rotterdam, Antwerp, Ostend, and Dunkirk, the port of Harwich will present an equally accessible harbour, from which the passengers may, with a proportionate saving of time, proceed to London by the Harwich branch of the Eastern Counties line. Yarmouth and Harwich were, it is well known, formerly the principal packet-stations on the Eastern coast of England, but lost that traffic through the introduction of steamnavigation. It was then found, that by despatching the Hamburgh and other north of Europe mails by steam-vessels direct from the Thames, even though these vessels should not leave the river for eight or nine hours after the mails were made up, the land journey to the outports was saved, and the mails conveyed to their destination in less time, and with more certainty than could be done by steam-vessels from any other point of the coast. But as soon as a railway communication is established with Harwich and Yarmouth, all this advantage will be lost to the Thames. The damage which steam has done to these ports as packet-stations, the same mighty power will yet be the means of amply repairing. By sending off the mails by the railway to Harwich and Yarmouth as soon

as made up, which is not later than twelve o'clock at night, they will reach these ports by the same hour of the morning at which they now leave the Thames; one half the voyage will be saved; and an entire day, and often much more, gained in the course of transit. And thus, in the same way that the modern steam-vessels supplanted the old sailing-packets, may we surely reckon on seeing the steam-carriages of the Eastern Counties Railway restoring to its former course the passenger-traffic and commercial correspondence, between the British metropolis and the whole of the north of Europe.

The Directors beg, in conclusion, to assure the shareholders that the same spirit of de termination which has enabled them to overcome the numerous difficulties which stood in the way of their obtaining the Act for the Incorporation of the Company, will continue in full vigour till every obstacle to the execu tion of the trust reposed in them has been overcome. Immediately on the Act being obtained, they directed all the necessary mea sures to be taken for enabling the engineer to commence operations with the least possible delay at both ends of the line, in order that the two portions of it likely to be the most productive, namely, the London and Romford, and the Norwich and Yarmouth,might be the soonest completed and opened; and negotiations for the purchase of the houses and lands required, are already in an advanced state. The expenditure on these parts of the line will be heavier than on any other; but in consequence of the considerable balance of the deposits left in hand, it has not been found necessary to make in the first instance a larger call than 17. per share; and as the Directors have no doubt that this call will be responded to with cordial unanimity, the works will be in full progress before any further call is made on the shareholders.

Since the Act was passed, two vacancies have occurred in the list of gentlemen therein nominated, to constitute for a limited time the first Board of Directors; one by the lamented death of Mr. Crawford, and the other, by the resignation of Mr. Tite, who has since, with much advantage to the interests of the Company, been appointed its surveyor. The Liverpool shareholders, who now hold one-third of the entire stock of the Company, having at a late public meeting expressed a strong desire that they should be represented in the Board by two or more of their number, the Directors, considering this desire to be no more than just and reasonable, have, in virtue of the powers given them by the Act, elected two of the largest share holders in Liverpool, namely, Lawrence Heyworth, Esq., and Richard Hall, Esq.,to succeed Mr. Crawford and Mr. Titę." In thus obeying the voice of the large and respectable portion of their constituency who

are resident in Liverpool, the Directors are happy to state that they have at the same time added to their body, two gentlemen whose assiduous habits of business and intimate acquaintance with railway matters, are like to render their accession to the direction of the greatest advantage to the interests of the Company.

It may be proper to add, that by the Act of Parliament a certain fee is authorised to be taken on each certificate of registry and each transfer of shares; but that the Directors, considering that the levying of such a fee would impose an unnecessary tax on the shareholders-in the first stages, particularly, of the undertaking- have ordered that it shall not be enforced.

Signed, on behalf of the Directors,

HENRY BOSANQUET, Chairman, R. J. HARVEY, Deputy Chairman. 18, Austin Friars, Sept. 26, 1836.

CORNISH STEAM-ENGINE WORK.

Sir,-The object of my former letter has been attained by Mr. Dickson's expression that I have taken upon myself to be the champion of the Cornish engineers; and also by his corrected restatement of my assertions. With regard to comparative calculations of steamengine work, it appears to me, that since either, 1st, the weight moved-2d, the height or distance-or, 3d, the quantity of coal used-may be made the varying quantity (railway locomotives adopting the last, and pumping-engines the first method), the suggested chauge is without a definite object. The argument relative to rain-water is good; and the strict est examination into Mr. John Taylor's data is desirable, to ascertain whether he has sufficiently allowed in his calculations, not only for this point, but for the differ ent circumstances attendant on the work, ing of the mines adjoining Doleoath and Consols. This argument would have had more force if the probable effect of the extension of levels had been accounted for, and not omitted. The observation relative to the depth from which water is drawn in some mines seems to me to be a sufficient answer to the sentence which follows, and confirms, moreover, my assertion of the difficulty of ascertaining the exact delivery of water from eight or Dine lifts, many cisterns receiving part of their water from the lift below and part from the adjoining levels.

Since the public are said to take an interest in this subject, I will address a few words to such of them as are em

ployers of steam-engines, as I fear an expression in my previous letter might tend to countenance an erroneous opinion of the control of the engineers over the re, port of" work performed by steamengines in Cornwall," should its existence be known to them. The duty, as calcu lated from the number of strokes regis tered by the counter first used by Watt as a check on the mining adventurers or proprietors, has been since 1812 used by the latter as a check on their engineers; and I conceive the real question to be, not whether such check is quite exact, or not, but whether it is a propo:tional test of a steam-engine and its pumps; whe ther it is as fair in the present as in the last century. As such it was adopted by the mining adventurers; and its variation in every monthly statement, from twenty to ninety millions in different englnes, is rather an argument of “ Fair Play, and no Favour." With regard to ascertaining the difference between the actual and calculated delivery of water, it is necessary to lengthen the pump or rising main the height of the required cistern; and this must also be done at each cistern which receives water from the levels adjoining. Perhaps one of the larger mines might undertake the neces sary trouble and expense for the satisfac tiʊn of known parties of eminence; but certainly not to satisfy idle curiosity, and most assuredly not to answer a protest, whose tone has a tendency to defeat its professed object.

Whenever a protest appears supported by calculations pointing out the mode in which the asserted errors have found their way into the stated amount of the present duty of good engines-particularly if the mines have been examined by its author -I feel no doubt it will meet with due attention. The private premiums awarded through the medium of the Polytechnic Society in the present and preceding year, are perhaps the strongest protests yet made relative to this point. As an individual, I have constantly proposed to deduct from Wat's duty a quantity pro portional to the difference, when proved, between the actual and calculated delivery of water-first making the allowance of the difference of the Imperial bushel of 941bs. of Welsh coal as compared with the Winchester of 89lbs., Newcastle or engineer's coal being about 88 to 81lbs. The only published account, I believe, of any monthly duty of Watt's engines

during the patent is in the Philosophical Transactions for 1830, which contains also the document on which Watt's agreement relative to the savings of coal was founded. I have always observed that the objectors to that agreement forget that the delivery of the water by the trial pumps was proportionally deficient. Should any person be unwilling to agree to this compromise, I then claim a superi ority of the present delivery of water greater than the difference of the bushel of coal, and call for proof of a greater monthly duty than twenty-nine millions during Watt's patent.—Yours, &c. JOHN S. ENYS.

Enys, Sept. 25, 1836.

MR. MACKINTOSH'S SECOND LECTURE ON HIS THEORY OF THE UNIVERSE.

This lecture (delivered on the 10th inst.) related to the laws and sources of motion. Mr. Mackintosh commenced his observations by referring to Newton's first law of motion, that "if a body be at rest, it will continue at rest; and if in motion, it will continue to move uniformly forward in a right line, if it be not disturbed by the action of some external cause." Upon this law the whole Newtonian system was founded, and the law, he remarked, would be true, provided all the conditions were fulfilled. To satisfy those conditions, he observed, we must suppose space to be void of all matter, except the said mov. ing body,which supposition would be opposed to our knowledge, that space is filled with innumerable bodies which, by their mutual attractions, act and re-act on each other. No body, he said, could pass through the solar on any other similar system without being subject to the disturbing action of external causes, therefore the whole Newtonian system was founded upon an imaginary axiom which had no existence in nature. He next proceeded to observe, that the Newtonian system recognised only one proper force, gravity, under the action of which all bodies tend to a centre; he contended that momentum, or a centrifugal force (as it was called), was no force, but merely an effect de. rived from a force; and might be destroyed by force; that therefore the Newtonian system recognised only one real force, gravity; that the momentum, supposed to be derived from an original impulse, was continually diminished by the force of gravity, and therefore, if the motions and distances of the planets were determined by gravity and momentum alone, they must all have merged in the sun thousands of years ago. The g eat fallacy of the Newtonian system consisted, he remarked, in considering momentum as a real force.

He next proceeded to show, that all motion whatever might be traced to the expansion aud contraction of matter under the directing will of the Deity, and laid down

the following axioms to illustrate and support: that proposition.

1st. The expansion of matter results from its decomposition by chemical action : and may, therefore, be called chemical motion, or the repulsion of particles.

2d. The contraction of matter, resulting from the action of gravity, may be called mechanical motion, or the attraction of particles.

3d. All chemical motion resulting from the decomposition of matter tends from a centre to a circumference; at any distance from that centre, the distance to which the motion proceeds from the centre, being greater or less, as ' the intensity of action or quantity of matter. is greater or less.

4th. All mechanical motion resulting from gravity tends from a circumference to a centre, the time which the motion continues being greater or less as the velocity or distance from the centre is greater or less.

5th. If chemical motion continually tends from the centre to the circumference, a perpetual chemical motion is impossible, because whatever may be the dimensions of the mass, it must have a centre, at which point chemical action would cease.

6. If mechanical motion continually tends to a centre, a perpetual mechanical motion is impossible, because whatever may be the dimensions of a circle, it must have a centre, at which point mechanical motion would

cease.

7th. But a perpetual motion may, and doea exist, and is a necessary result of the two, forces, viz. of chemical motion tending from a centre, and of mechanical motion tending to a centre, and these two forces may, and will continue to produce motion for ever.

He next proceeded to show that all motion was produced by these two forces; that the sources of rivers were supplied by rainswhich receded from the earth in an expanded form, and returned again to the earth in a condensed or contracted form; that the mos tion of the atmosphere was produced by the same forces ; the motion of the steam-engine, and even animal motion, which is dependant upon the pulsations of the heart, he traced to the expansion and contraction of matter, applying the same principles, in an extended' sense, to the whole universe.

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