(142.) For some time after the completion of the Liverpool and Manchester railway, doubts were entertained of its ultimate success as a commercial speculation; and, even still, after several years' continuance, some persons are found, sceptical by temperament, who have not acquired full confidence in the permanency of its advantages. The possibility of sustaining a system of regular transport upon it, with the unheard of speed effected at the commencement of the undertaking, was, for a long period, questioned by a considerable portion even of the scientific world; and, after that possibility was established, by the regular performance of some years, the practicability of permanently profitable work, at that rate of speed, was still doubted by many, and altogether denied by some. The numerous difficulties to be encountered, and the enormous expense of locomotive power, have been fully admitted by the directors in their semi-annual reports. Persons interested in canals and other rival establishments, and others constitutionally doubtful of everything, attributed the dividends to the indirect proceedings of the managers, and asserted that when they appeared to be sharing their profit's, they, in reality, were sharing their capital. This delusion, however, could not long continue, and the payment of a steady semi-annual dividend of 4-1/2 per cent. since the opening of the railway, together with the commencement of a reserved fund of a considerable amount, with a premium of above 100 per cent. on the original shares, has brought conviction to understandings impenetrable to general reasoning; and the tide of opinion, which, for a time, had turned against railways, has now, by the usual reaction, set in so violently in their favour, that it becomes the duty of those who professionally devote themselves to such inquiries, to restrain and keep within moderate bounds the public ardour, rather than to stimulate it.