The labours of the Commissioners were most arduous; their Report, with the evidence on which it was founded, and the explanatory maps and plans which accompanied it, is one of the ablest ever submitted to Parliament. Portions of it have lost interest through the facts having become familiar-portions as embodying speculations on points now well settled; yet will the whole be still found interesting, instructive, and admirable, by any one who cares to study it.

The assistance received by the Commissioners in collecting the materials of the Report was the best possible. The Master-General of the Ordnance put at their disposal Major H. D. Jones, R.E., an intelligent officer and steady man of business, who acted as secretary to the Commission; and Lieutenant Harkness, R.E., a subaltern of ten years' standing, who analysed and condensed the statistical information-for which work he had a peculiar aptitude. They engaged for the survey of the South of Ireland Mr Vignolles, a grandson of Dr Hutton of Woolwich, and an engineer of ability, who had won experience and distinction in extensive engineering operations in the United States and in England and Scotland. For the North of Ireland they employed Mr (now Sir John) M'Neill, a favourite élève of Telford, an engineer of high reputation and great experience, who had already been engaged in professional researches in that part of Ireland. The Chairmen of the Boards of Custom and Excise procured for them returns relative to the trade of the country. The constabulary furnished them very valuable information respecting the inland traffic. From the Post-office and the principal proprietors of public conveyances in Ireland they got details as to the number of passengers travelling by coaches and cars, exhibiting the increase of intercourse which had followed increased facility and cheapness of

communication. From the Ordnance Survey Department they were furnished with a diagram of the whole of Ireland, made from the great triangulation, and with a map compiled from the completed portions of the survey and from the old county maps, corrected by the fixed points of the great triangulation. The diagram and map were both prepared by General (then Lieutenant) Larcom, R.E. Farther materials were procured from the principal engineers and promoters of railways in Dublin, and from the English railway companies.

Having collected these materials and matured their judgment upon them in regard to the points to be reported upon, the Commissioners resolved to lay before the public, along with their recommendations, the data upon which they proceeded. They appended to their Report the following original documents:-1. A map of Ireland, showing the different lines laid down under their directions, and those lines which were proposed by private parties. 2. A map of Ireland, showing, by the varieties of shading, the comparative density of the population. 3. A map of Ireland, showing the relative quantities of traffic in different directions. 4. A map of Ireland, showing the relative number of passengers in different directions by regular public conveyances. 5. A geological map of Ireland. 6. A

*

* Maps 2, 3, and 4 were prepared by Lieutenant Harkness on the suggestion and under the direction of Mr Drummond. On these maps the writer of the article "Railroads in Ireland" in the Quarterly Review, vol. lxiii., has the following observations:-"We consider this map (No. 2) to be a most valuable statistical document. The amount of the population in 1831, of each town in Ireland, as also the average population per square mile, are marked in figures, and by strong lights and deep shadows. The light are (not the dry, but) the desolate; the deep shadows (not the wet and swampy, but) the densely-populated regions of Ireland. The mind is led to reflect, that tapping the

map of England and Ireland, explanatory of that part of the Report of the Commissioners which relates to the communication between London and Dublin, and other parts of Ireland. (On this map are denoted, (1) the railways that were completed, or for which Acts of Parliament had been obtained; (2) the proposed railways; (3) the lines laid down under the direction of the Commissioners.) 7. Two volumes containing working plans and sections for all the lines of railways laid down by the Commissioners. They, moreover, appended to their Report 281 pages of new statistical information collected from indisputable authorities. Thus they delivered up to the public the whole of the evidence on which they founded their recommendations, and all the materialst hat could be desired for facilitating public criticism of their views. They even put the public in possession of the working plans necessary for the national system which they devised, so that, should their recommendations be approved, the railways might be constructed without further preparation.

stagnant population of a country by a railroad is an operation which should be performed on very nearly the same principles as draining wet land—we mean that the railroad should pierce the country wherever the population is densest, just as main drains are cut wherever the region is wettest. Map No. 3 shows the quantity of traffic which upstart railway companies, looking to nothing but their own interests, would of course desire to draw to themselves; but it also shows that large portion of traffic on well-regulated canals, which, in a poor young country like Ireland, it would be highly impolitic for the Parliament to ruin. Map 4, by giving a picture of the present arterial circulation of passengers from the capital to the remotest extremities of Ireland, enables the mind to determine very nearly mechanically what lines of railway, by preserving a mean course, will be best adapted, not to the selfish and partial interest of any particular place, but to the uninterrupted health and general prosperity of the whole body of the country."

The Report itself consisted of an introduction and three parts: Part I., an inquiry into the various circumstances to be considered in laying out a system of railways in Ireland. Part II., an inquiry into the probable return on the capital which would be required to construct and work the proposed lines. Part III., an inquiry into circumstances peculiar to the situation of Ireland and the present condition of its inhabitants, which would render the promotion of these works, or any of them, an object of national importance, and into the means by which it might be necessary or advisable to promote them.

Part I. falls into five divisions. (1.) Amount, distribution, and employment of the population. (2.) Nature and amount of present traffic. (3.) Number of public conveyances; average number of passengers; to and from what places. (4.) Geological structure of Ireland— positions of its mountains, valleys and rivers, rocks, metallic and coal mines; facilities for construction of railways in different districts; nature and productiveness of soils in the different districts, and their capabilities of improvement. (5.) Selection and description of the lines of railway best calculated to prove most beneficial to Ireland, and to afford the greatest return on the capital expended. Part II. treats of the economy and mechanics of railways, and is also an inquiry into the return derivable from different amounts of traffic, and into the probable dividends from the proposed lines. Part III. consists of two divisions. 1. As to the situation of Ireland. This part contains three sections, which relate to the proposal to establish steam communication with America through Ireland, and lines of railway between London and the selected Irish port. 2. Treats of the condition of the population of Ireland. There are here also three sections. (1.) Circumstances

peculiar to that condition. (2.) On the influence of railroads in developing the resources of a country and improving the condition of its inhabitants. (3.) Suggestions and recommendations as to the extent of public aid which it might be advisable to afford, the manner in which it might be given, and under what conditions.

The portions of the Report which were written by Mr Drummond are defined in a letter addressed by Professor Barlow to a friend, for the information of General Larcom when he was preparing his Memoir of Drummond's professional life.

"RUSHGROVE COTTAGE, June 5, 1840. "DEAR SIR,-In reply to your inquiry respecting the part taken by Mr Drummond in the Irish Railway Report, I think the best way is to place that Report before me, and to specify, as I proceed, as nearly as I can, the parts which were more exclusively the production of Mr Drummond's pen. That the whole idea was his I believe is generally understood, but this I do not know of my own knowledge. That he took a most lively interest in the work is unquestionable, and attended very minutely to every part of it; and a good deal of it was written by him.

"The First Chapter, Part I., was wholly his, viz., 'On the Amount, Distribution, and Employment of the Population,' &c. Chapters II. and III. were also written by him after the several data had been collected and arranged from returns furnished by the constabulary and from other sources. The three maps. illustrative of these chapters were formed, at the suggestion of Mr Drummond, by Lieutenant Harkness. Mr Drummond also took great interest in the form and arrangement of the tabulated matter in the appendix which related to this part of the work.

'Chapter IV., 'On the Geology of Ireland,' was by Mr Griffith; and Chapter V. was a joint production of Mr Griffith and Sir J. Burgoyne; but it was remodelled and brought to its present form by Mr Drummond. Part II. was