Chamberss Edinburgh Journal, No. 455 | Page 4

was agreed to in 1851 by
the Papal, Austrian, Tuscan, Parmese, and Modenese governments. The
object is to construct a net-work of railways, each state executing and
paying for its own. Austria is to do the work as far as Piacenza and
Mantua; Tuscany is to finish its lines from Pistoja to Florence and
Lucca; the Papal government is to connect Bologna with both the
former; and the small states are to carry out their respective portions.

The great difficulty will be, to cut through the Apennines, which at
present sever Tuscany from the other states; but a greater still will be
the moral one, arising from the disordered state of Italy. Rome has
conceded to an Anglo-French company the construction of a railway
from the capital to Ancona; but that, like all other commercial
enterprises in the Papal dominions, is lagging sadly.
Crossing the Pyrenees to view the works in the Peninsula, which
Bradshaw may possibly have to register in 1862, we find that, amid the
financial difficulties of Spain, three lines of railway have been marked
out--from Madrid to Irun; from Aranjuez to Almansa; and from Alar to
Santander. The first would be a great line to the vicinity of the French
frontier, to cost 600 millions of reals; the second would be part of an
intended route from Aranjuez, near Madrid, to the Mediterranean; the
length to Almansa, involving an outlay of 220 millions. The third line,
from Santander to Alar del Rey, on the Biscayan seaboard of Spain, is
intended to facilitate approach from the interior to the rising port of
Santander; the outlay is put down at 120 millions. It is difficult to
translate these high-sounding sums into English equivalents, for there
are three kinds of reals in Spain, varying from 2-5/8d. to 5-1/4d.
English; but taking even the lowest equivalent, the sum-total amounts
to a capital which Spain will have some difficulty in raising. The
Santander line, however, has attracted English capital and engineering
towards it; the first sod was turned by the king-consort in May 1852,
and the works are now in progress. There is also an important line from
Madrid to the Portuguese frontier near Badajoz, marked out on paper;
but the fruition of this as well as other schemes will mainly depend on
the readiness with which English capital can be obtained. Unfortunately,
'Spanish bonds' are not in the best favour in England.
Portugal is a terra incognita to railways. It is on the extremest verge of
Europe towards the Atlantic; and European civilisation finds entrance
there with remarkable slowness. In 1845, the government tried to invite
offers from capitalists to construct railways; in 1849, the invitations
were renewed; but the moneyed men were coy, and would not be
wooed. In 1851, the government appointed a commission to investigate
the whole subject. The commission consisted of five persons; and their

Report, dated October 20, 1851, contains a large mass of valuable
information. It appeared in an English translation in some of the
London journals towards the close of the year. The commissioners take
for granted that Spain will construct railways from Madrid to the
Portuguese frontier at Badajoz on the one side, and to the French
frontier, near Bayonne, on the other; and they then inquire how best to
reach Badajoz from Lisbon. Three routes present themselves--one to
Santarem, and across the Tagus to Badajoz; another to Santarem and
Coimbra, and so on into Spain by way of Almeida; and a third to
Oporto, and thence by Bragança into Spain. The first of these, being
more directly in the route to Madrid, is preferred by the commissioners,
who estimate the outlay at a million and a quarter sterling. They discuss
the terms on which capitalists might possibly be induced to come to
their aid; and they indulge in a hope that, ten years hence, Lisbon may
be united to Central Europe by a railway, of which 260 kilomètres will
cross Portugal to Badajoz, 370 from Badajoz to Madrid, and about 400
from Madrid to the French frontier, where the Paris and Bayonne
Railway will continue the route. (Five kilomètres are equal to rather
more than three English miles.) The Continental Bradshaw will, we
apprehend, have to wait long before these peninsular trunk-lines find a
place in its pages.
Leaving altogether the countries of Europe, and crossing the
Mediterranean, we find that even Africa is becoming a member of the
great railway system. After a world of trouble, financial and diplomatic,
the present ruler of Egypt has succeeded in giving reality to a scheme
for a railway from Alexandria to the Nile. A glance at a map of Egypt
will shew us that a canal extends from Alexandria to the Nile, to escape
the sanded-up mouths of that famous river. It is mainly to