express trains in England. The permanent way—constructed with Vignoles, or flat-bottomed rails bolted to the sleepers, without chairs, and weighing considerably less to the yard than the rails commonly in use in this country—is not adapted to bear the enormous strain which would be imposed upon it by long and heavy trains running at the high rates of speed which prevail upon English railways.
It is evident that the readiness of English railway companies to yield to the demands of the public, and to proceed from one concession to another, has arisen from the peculiar nature of the traffic of a country of limited extent like Great Britain, and where the business is so extremely competitive. Most of the railways in Germany, Austria, and Belgium are either State railways, or are controlled more or less by the State, and are worked not only for the benefit of the travelling public, but with an eye to the improvement of the State revenue; and in France, although the principal railways have been constructed by private Companies, it has been done upon a system of territorial concession for a period of time, the State reserving a control over the fixing of the rates and charges, so that the question of competition seldom arises. In England, on the contrary, the Legislature has fostered the principle of competition by sanctioning the construction of railways forming alternative routes between most points of importance. For instance, between London and Manchester there are three routes open to the intending traveller; between London and Liverpool there are three, between London and Edinburgh, Glasgow, Perth, or Aberdeen, three; between London and Leeds, three, between Liverpool and Manchester three, between London and
