Page:The Marquess of Dalhousie.djvu/36

28 that a system of State railways would not at that time be accepted by Parliament.

Lord Dalhousie's scheme remained therefore a proposal only, until it fell to his lot to carry it out himself in India. 'It provided among other things,' writes Captain Trotter, 'that no new line of railway should be sanctioned, except on some clear ground of public advantage, commercial or strategic.' No sentence could better describe the basis on which the railway system of India — Lord Dalhousie's own child — has, without a single panic or a single check, been gradually but surely created.

As his counsel of perfection could not be adopted, the young President of the Board of Trade set himself to do the best with the means permitted to him. Every new line had to pass under review before sanction was accorded. Within a few months the number amounted to 332, representing an expenditure of 271 millions, besides many foreign schemes which had come for their capital to the English market. When the last day of the year arrived for receiving applications, over six hundred projects were deposited on his table.

Lord Dalhousie attacked the huge pile with an energy which amazed and wearied out his subordinates and coadjutors, but which nothing short of absolute illness could arrest. His persistent over-work at this period laid the foundation of painful future disease. In spite of physical pros-