The following Table, extracted from a Return moved for by Lord Brougham, may help to give a better general idea of the reason why our Railroads have been so costly:—­

  Name of London & Great Midland, South Eastern Total
  Railway.  North Western, and 12 and 6
                Western, and 3 branches branches
                and 12 branches
                branches

  Length/Miles 433 215-3/4 449-1/4 198-1/2 1296-1/2

  Cost of Con-
  struction.  L 13,302,313 6,961,011 9,064,089 5,375,366 34,702,779

  Conveyance
  and Law
  Charges.  L 143,479 105,269 119,344 138,034 506,128

  Cost of
  Land.  L 3,153,226 1,132,964 1,764,582 1,458,627 7,509,399

  Parliamentary
  Expenses.  L 555,698 245,139 287,853 420,467 1,509,157

  Engineering
  and Sur-
  veying.  L 289,698 201,909 216,110 116,039 823,756

  Total
  Cost.  L 17,444,414 8,646,292 11,451,978 7,508,533 45,051,217

When all the foregoing facts are taken into consideration, it must appear clear to the reader, that until the efficiency of the work done, the actual number of miles of rail laid down, and the comfort enjoyed are ascertained, any comparison of the relative expenses of the respective railways must be alike useless and erroneous; at the same time, it can scarcely be denied that it is impossible to give the Republic too much credit for the energy, engineering skill, and economy with which they have railway-netted the whole continent.  Much remains for them to do in the way of organizing the corps of officials, and in the erection of proper stations, sufficient at all events, to protect travellers from the weather, for which too common neglect the abundance of wood and their admirable machinery leave them without excuse; not that we are without sin ourselves in this last particular.  The uncovered station at Warrington is a disgrace to the wealthy London and North Western Company, and the inconveniences for changing trains at Gretna junction is even more disreputable; but these form the rare exceptions, and as a general rule, there cannot be the slightest comparison between the admirably arranged corps of railway servants in England, and the same class of men in the States; nor between the excellent stations in this country, and the wretched counterpart thereof in the Republic.  Increased intercourse with Europe will, it is to be hoped, gradually modify these defects; but as long as they continue the absurd system of running only one class of carriage, the incongruous hustling together of humanities must totally prevent the travelling in America being as comfortable as that in the Old World.