Page:A protest against the extension of railways in the Lake District - Somervell (1876).djvu/42

 not drawbacks to be got over in consideration of counterbalancing advantages; they are, in themselves additional recommendations. Cheerfulness takes the place of seclusion; and the heart of the tourist leaps within him as he recognizes the signs which tell him he is not far from his kind. Even if there were no other reason for proposing to carry the railway beyond Windermere, the anxiety of innkeepers whom the successes of their better-placed rivals will not suffer to sleep would probably supply sufficient promoters. Besides this, there may be fresh mines discovered in the mountains on either side of the valley, so that the new line might hope to secure industrial as well as passenger traffic. With these possibilities in prospect, it is useless to put aside the question as one which is not likely to become practical. The application for a new railway through the very heart of the Lake Country will be made, and it will be well if Parliament has had time to consider what answer shall be given to it.

There was a time when consent would have been almost a foregone conclusion. Until the financial collapse of so many lines had proved that, even as regards the means of locomotion, the supply may sometimes exceed the demand, those who preached that the construction of railroads is not an end in itself had no chance of gaining a hearing. For the moment the world and all that is therein belonged to the