Page:A protest against the extension of railways in the Lake District - Somervell (1876).djvu/45

 Grasmere, which would constitute a sufficient reason for depriving Englishmen of this means of escape from the irritating surroundings of town life, and especially of town life as it exists in the manufacturing districts, but the case made out ought to be one of very unusual strength. As a matter of fact, there is no ground to suppose that any case at all can be made out. The conversion of mountain valleys into theatres of mining or manufacturing industry may be a benefit to the country generally or to mankind, but it is a benefit which is usually conferred at the sacrifice of some of the comfort of the inhabitants.

The question is not, therefore, whether the interests of the people of the Lake country are to be subordinated to the interests of those who visit it in their holidays. It is whether the interests of those who wish to make money out of the Lake country ought to be treated as paramount over those of other classes. There are circumstances, no doubt, which might make it necessary to carry on the railway from Windermere; but these circumstances should be strictly investigated and severely judged. The creation of another valley bristling with chimneys and machinery would be but a poor compensation for the loss of one of the few districts left in England in which really grand scenery is still uninjured by man. Of the first kind of spectacle, Yorkshire and South Wales have examples enough to