struct a road, by which the people are accommodated, and which may with great justice and truth be termed a Democratic establishment for the convenience of the many"-should still ask to be permitted to increase their outlay to extend their road, for the benefit and convenience of others, under the discouraging circumstances of their case-to wit, 1st, that the stockholders have never yet received any dividend; and, 2nd, the untiring opposition of a portion of this community to the laying of rails through the streets; we were, however, the more gratified to learn their determination to continue "onward" in their course, notwithstanding the difficulties and prejudices to be encountered and overcome-as they certainly will be overcone-until they shall have extended at least one track to the water's edge. It is not our intention to enter into a labored argument, at this time, to show the great error, we may say injustice to themselves, committed by the citizens in their persevering opposition to the extension of rail tracks into the different sections of the city-as we have no doubt of the ultimate success of the system-a system, which will tend as much to the civilization, harmony and well being of mankind, even, we had almost said, as the discovery of the art of printing. We will, however, endeavor to show a few of the benefits resulting from the introduction of railroads, and then ask those who oppose them, what may we not eventually anticipate from them, if, in 10 years, so much has been accomplished, even in their unfinished and unconnected condition; and, in the face of such opposition to, and prejudices against their entering large cities, and thereby forming a connection with other roads. It is not surprising that a portion of our citizens, who sce only one side of the picture, should oppose them; but it is singular to us, or would be, if we did not understand the difficulty, of divesting ourselves of pre-conceived opinions-often formed without sufficient knowledge of the facts-to see those whose business must have been benefitted by the extension of a line of tracks, petitioning for the removal of the very means which brought customers to their door; the removal of which will most certainly turn them in another direction. It, however, only adds one more to the numerous instances in which we see people mistake their own interests, and which they only appreciate when too late to be benefitted by the knowledge. It may, perhaps, in the present mode of laying the rails, be objected to them, that they incommode other vehicles in crossing the tracks; and also that they now interfere with the stages, and will eventually interfere with the cartmen-and, therefore, should not be extended to the rivers, nor be permitted to connect with other roads. So might it have been objected to the introduction and use of carts, that they interfere with the porters and hand cartmen; and to the stages, that they took passengers from the hackney coaches. These latter, however are objections not sustainable, as the streets are not designed alone for carts, stages, and coaches; nor have cartmen any exclusive right to the carrying trade in cities; nor stages and hackney coaches to the carrying of passengers; but the greatest good, and convenience of the greatest number of people, and amount of business should in this, as in other matters, be consulted as far as may be, by giving people a choice in the mode of doing their own business in their own way; and especially for the convenience of travellers, who ought not to be compelled to employ an extra conveyance, and be subjected to the extortion and abuse of hackmen, as is too often the case in large cities, to get from one railroad and steamboat to another-and as to the former, the mode of laying the tracks that will beyond all question be improved so as to permit carriages to cross them without difficulty. It is also true, at least so far as we have been able to ascertain, that railroads for transportation and travel have in all cases added to, instead of detracting from the business of carts and coaches-by increasing to an astonishing amount, as will be seen, the business of cities; and it appears to us that instead of being a disadvantage, their extension will be a great and direct advantage, by increasing the quantity, and at the same time, reducing the average distances to which the loads are to be carried on carts, thus enabling the same force to accomplish more useful effect. We will not, however, attempt here to argue the question, but give the remainder of the memorial to which we allude, together with some interesting railroad statistics which were selected for the last number but excluded by other articles. MEMORIAL OF THE NEW YORK AND HARLEM RAILROAD COMPANY. (Continued from page 16.) Your memorialists, therefore, most respectfully pray your honorable body to grant this company permission to continue their rails from Centre street, through Canal street to the North River. Your memorialists would here remark, that if this privilege be granted to the Harlem Railroad Company, they are convinced it would greatly benefit every portion of the island, and particularly a large mass of daily laborers; nor should it be forgotten, that the advantages it confers will be common to all classes of our citizens, of every lot and condition in life. Further, to use the language of Chevalier de Gerstner, a distinguished engineer of Austria, who speaking of the Belgian railroads called them "a popular, democratic establishment, receiving the approbation of the people and every intelligent man." It is indispensable that residents far from the centre of business, should be able, in a cheap and expiditious manner, to reach their places of trade.— The lower part of the city is constantly changing from dwelling houses to stores; and as this change takes place, the inhabitants, together with the increase of our population, are compelled to remove either to the upper part of the city, or to the adjoining towns and villages. The island is narrow, and your honorable body accommodate with ferries, almost an unlimited extent, those who reside in places beyond your jurisdiction, and who often, to the inconvenience of the commerce of the city, have great facilities for coming into and leaving it, and who are exempted from personal taxes, and many other burthens; while sound policy would seem to indicate that the most approved modes of conveyance should be adopted for traversing our city, from one extreme point to the other, presenting for public use, attractions equal, at least, to those offered by our neigh bors of Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Brooklyn and Jersey city, and thus, by affording inducements to the inhabitants of neighboring states to remove within our precincts, augmenting our population and wealth, and contributing to the expense of the city government. But, in addition to all this, it should be borne in mind, there are other, and, perhaps. stronger reasons in favor of the extension of our rails, to the North and East rivers, where ample accommodation may be afforded for all commodities intended for exportation. Your memorialists believe that this road is but the first link in the main chain of that mighty and measureless system of internal communication, which, connecting with the New York and Albany Railroad, commencing by its charter, at the termination of our own work, and branching throughout our State, throughout New England, and to the whole interior of the Great West, will be rendering those immense inland communities tributary to this State and its metropolis! This, then, opens other and wider prospects of incalculable value.— Where must all the passengers borne on all these gigantic avenues of internal communication be finally concentrated? Will not the surplus productions of this vast interior, be poured into this, its great commercial emporium? An i will not this, our city railroad, become the first section of that great central avenue through which these rich streams of agricultural and manufacturing productions are destined to flow, not only for the use and benefit of our own citizens, but millions for export to other States and other nations? Surely, then, your honorable body cannot but feel the importance of allowing our railroad free access, at the most eligible points, to that ocean, where these innumerable commodities of our country may be borne to every clime. If this view of the future usefulness of our work be correct, and your memorialists cannot doubt it, our road does not merit the resentments, jealousies, and sectional prejudices sought to be excited against it. On the contrary, the work, completed by individual enterprise, unaided by the funds of the state or the nation, forming the first link in the stupenduous chain of our magnificent system of internal improvements, and, perhaps, the most difficult and expensive of the whole series, deserves the countenance and support of every liberal and enlightened mind. In conclusion, your memorialists believe, that a simple reference to the unexampled extension and macthless prosperity of our city as the triumphant result of a free water communication with all parts of the world, furnishes an irrisistible argument in behalf of an equally free railroad communication, as scarcely less essential to individual and general prosperity. By order. SAMUEL R. BROOKS, President of the New York and Harlem Railroad Company. New York, December 2nd, 1839. DUBLIN AND KINGSTON RAILWAY. The Dublin and Kingston railway is a passenger railway only, yet it is proposed to bring it into the city, even to and above the river, and to do so, it is proposed to remove nearly 40 houses. This is, at present, wholly a passenger railway, about 6 miles in length. The public road traffic, previous to the construction of the line, was carried on principally by cars, besides which, there were many private carriages, saddle horses, and other conveyances. To ascertain the amount of previous traffic, persons were employed to note the number which passed between six o'clock in the morning, and nine o'clock at night, for 37 weeks, i. e., from the 14th of February to 30th October, and the result was, 29,256 private carriages, 5,999 hackney coaches, 113,945 private jaunting cars, 149,754 public jaunting cars, 20,070 gigs, 40,485 saddle horses, and 58,297 carts. From the amount of general traffic, thus ascertained, the estimate of probable railway traffic was made up on public cars only, viz:— 37 weeks, 15 weeks at same rate, 149,754 cars Deduct 25 per cent. for difference of season, 19,178 45,533 Which, at 6d. each, amounts to an annual revenue of 29,2931. The actual numbers conveyed since the opening, December, 17th, 1834, have been, Passengers. £ S. d. 136,829 4,177 9 8 1,097,971 31,130 6 8 1.184,428 31,901 5 10 From December 17th, 1834, to March 1st, 1835, BRUSSELS AND ANTWERP RAILWAY. The Brussels and Antwerp railway also is used mostly for passengers, and has establishnd the truth of the remark that the establishment of railways is for the convenience of the people, by increasing the number of passengers the first year, from 80 to 563,000, and the 2nd year to 872,000. This is a union of two lines from Brussels to Mechlin, distance about 13 English miles, and from Mechlin to Antwerp, about 143 English miles. The total number of passengers carried on the toad between the two extremes, was about 80,000 annually, conveyed in from 15 to 20 dilligences, besides canal passengers, the number of which is not stated. The line from Brussels to Mechlin was first opened 7th May, 1835; and the number of passengers conveyed by it to the end of Aprid, 1836, was 563,607; and from the first of January, 1836, to 31st December, 1836, the number conveyed amounted to 872,893. The other part of the line, from Mechlin to Antwerp, opened May 1st, 1836, and from that time to August 15th, the number of passengers (long and short stages) was 369.452; and from August 1st, to October 31st, 256,673, making a total of 626,125 passengers, of which 187,233 traversed the whole distance. The remaining part went only to intermediate stations. Similar results are witnessed here, and yet we find a few of the people opposing the extension of the tracks in this city, because they say it is a "monopoly!"-true it may be termed a monopoly, not, however, for the benefit of the stockholders, who have not in seven years received a penny of dividend, but the monopoly is to the poor man, the business man, the infirm and the indolent, who can ride 2 miles for 6d. every five minutes, from 7 A. M. to 8 P. M. In other cities, railroads are extended through different streets to the water; there are turnouts for the purpose of permitting the cars to pass directly into the store houses to load and unload, so that the greatest beneficial effects may result from the least labor. Thus it should be, and thus it will eventually be here, when the real advantages of this mode of communication are better understood, and duly appreciated. The greater the opposition of the few, the more certainly will the people-the multitude whose conveniece they are-require their extension, not only through Canal, but through other streets also to the rivers. INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS OF NEW YORK. In the enlargement of the Erie canal, two leading objects were proposed to be obtained. 1st. To accommodate the supposed great increase in trade, 2nd. To cheapen transportation. The Erie canal was originally constructed forty feet wide upon the surface and four feet deep. The locks fifteen feet in width, and ninety feet in length, inside measurement, with an average lift, a little less than eight feet, and capable of being navigated by boats carrying 50 to 60 tons. According to the plan for the enlargement, the dimensions of the canal are to be increased to seventy feet in width, at the surface, and seven feet in depth, with locks, seventeen feet in width and one hundred and ten feet in length in the chamber the lifts of the locks remaining nearly the same as originally established, viz: a little less on the average than eight feet, and capeble of being navigated by boats carrying from 100 to 150 tons. The original cost of the canal did not vary much from Since its completion (in 1835,) about $400,000 has been expended annually in repairs and superintendence, nearly one-third of which has been appropriated towards making the canal better than it originally was; that is, in the erection of new bridges-the raising and rebuilding old ones in a more permanent manner-the widening and rebuilding aquaducts, and wastweirs-the construction of inside slope or protection walls-the widening and deepening the channel, &c.— amounting in all probably to Total cost of the Erie canal, at the time of commencing the enlargement, $8,000,000 $2,000,000 $10,000,000 It is now proposed to expend in making the enlargement throughout the whole extent, viz: 363 miles, according to the estimate rendered last winter to the Legislature, nearly $25,000,000 The first estimate for the enlargement, was $12,500,000 nearly. In making this estimate the great difficulties of the undertaking were not fully comprehended. The second was in like manner defective, though approaching nearer the |