In an adjoining space I stood for a few minutes to admire a magnificent crane (by Cavé, the celebrated mechanic, who has made the French transatlantic-steamers, and who was, originally, a simple workman), composed of an enormous lion erect, firmly pressing his upper paws against the axle of the wheel, as if to enable him mechanically to retain between his teeth the extremity of the lower limb of the crane, from the chain of which there was dangling in the air the greater portion of a locomotive engine. From this point, from which there is a good view, I observed that the immense area I have described as belonging to the company is surrounded by a stone wall 20 feet high. Continuing my course on the left of the main line of rails, I found close to them a handsome circular building (Rotonde No. 1) full of rails and intervening pits converging to a centre, for the examination and repair, above, around, and beneath, of locomotive engines. From this building three sets of rails a hundred yards long led us to Rotonde No. 2, in the centre of which was a turn-table of 36 feet in diameter, capable of receiving an engine and tender together. Beyond is the field for coke; and as on the left of the rails there now remained nothing to visit, we crossed over to the right, whero close to us and to the line we found the company's establishment for merchandise, composed of three covered platforms, each 300 feet long by 30 broad, for the reception and delivery of heavy goods. Observing to one of the company's officers that, in comparison with the buildings I had just been witnessing, those before us were rudely constructed, with rather inefficient roofs "Ah, Monsieur," he replied, " ce n'est que provisoire ;" adding, with a good-humoured smile, "comme le gouvernement de France!"* at which we all grinned in silence. Each of these platforms, which, by a series of upright posts supporting the roof, appeared divided into stations, the names of which were inscribed, had subservient rails on one side, with a road for waggons and carts on the other. The first was for goods outward bound, " départ de Lyons ;" the second for homeward bound, "arrivée de Lyons;" the third, for merchandise to and from "Troyes," belonged to a *It is only provisional, like the government of France! separate company. On both sides was an office or "bureau" for enregistering goods of arrival or for departure. Lastly, beyond these sheds were three temporary "corps de garde, for the company's servants to take shelter in and rest when off duty. The above establishment for the reception and despatch of merchandise, works from six in the morning till eight at night. Whole waggon-loads of goods, each packed and covered with its cloth, leaving their wheels behind them, are despatched on trucks by rail to the nearest point of their destination. where, lifted and deposited upon other wheels, they proceed into the interior. In cases where the communication is partly by rail, partly by road, and then again by rail, spare wheels are carried. The height of these loaded waggons is, if necessary, tested by running them under an iron arch, of the exact height of the lowest bridge on the line. The merchandise arrival warehouse has been purposely placed on a spot which, happening exactly to be beyond the limits of Paris, relieves the government (the directors of the railway) of the botheration of the octroi, which must accordingly be paid by the owners of the goods on their arrival at the Barrières de Bercy or de Charenton, almost immediately adjoining. Outside the walls of the railway establishment there lay beneath us at a short distance the "Camionage," or establishment for transporting merchandise to and from their three platforms, and I was much interested in observing the ease with which loaded "camions," or vans, each drawn by three horses abreast, were to be seen trotting away in various directions. I happened at the moment to be surrounded by several of the company's servants, and as I was expressing to one of them how much obliged I felt to the "Ingénieur en chef" for the gratification he had afforded me, his comrade, standing beside me, exclaimed, evidently from his heart, “ Ah, c'est la crême des hommes !"* 66 From the very slight survey, which I had now concluded, of the metropolitan terminus of the Paris and Lyons railway, I am of opinion that, although the buildings, viewed separately, have been admirably planned, and in most cases very scientifically devised for their respective purposes, they just at Ah, he is the cream of men! present straddle over too much ground, and, with reference to their existing traffic, would therefore be more valuable, if, like those at Euston and Camden stations, in London, they had been more compact. It must be remembered, however, that even in England the railway is but an infant of scarcely eighteen years' growth; that during that time its passenger and goods traffic have increased in a ratio infinitely greater than was expected; and that it is beyond the power of the human mind to foresee to what in future ages they will amount. In the meanwhile, the London and North-Western Railway Company, notwithstanding the foresight and admirable arrangements of its chairman, is beginning to feel that its termini in and near London are not big enough for its traffic; and as, in proportion to its success, buildings crowding around in all directions have increased the value of land which was before, from its price, almost unpurchasable, the time may arrive when the Paris and Lyons railway will derive inestimable advantages from the grand scale on which their metropolitan terminus has been purchased, constructed, and arranged. In the mean while, as compared with its trade, it resembles a fine healthy boy strutting about in "papa's boots." But among the facts and arrangements I had witnessed, there were others which I consider offered to those interested in the success of railways--and who among us is not?—a very important moral. Although in the establishment belonging to the terminus of the Chemin de Fer du Nord at "La Chapelle" were lately employed upwards of 2000 workmen, in all the ateliers (workshops) of the Paris and Lyons terminus there were working when I visited it only 120 men ! Now the reason of this appears to be as follows. With the purest desire to work the line in the most scientific and best manner possible, the French Government, like the English or any other government, are no sooner observed to possess the power of enriching any one than, at all points, they are assailed by the most ungenerous applications, so intricately connected with parliamentary interest, that it is really out of human power to unravel them. The only way of not offending all, or rather of giving to each the minimum of offence, is to divide as fairly as possible among all, that which each in dividually would wholly engross, either for himself or for his locality. Accordingly, instead of constructing the undermentioned articles by wholesale, on a space of ground a mile long, walled in and enriched with every description of workshop for the purpose, the French Government-I repeat, as the English or any other Government would, I believe, have done, had it undertaken the management of a great railway—has obtained what is necessary for the working of the line as follows:The locomotives are made at Paris and Rouen: The tenders at St. Etienne and Le Creusôt: The first-class carriages at the Messageries Nationales de Paris: The second and third class carriages at Arras, Lille, Alsace, and Munich: Coke from Valenciennes, Alsace, D'Anzin, &c. &c. &c. Again, from narrowminded but irresistible political pressure from without, the government railway has been forced, by lining, padding, and stuffing second-class carriages (a luxury which no railway company in France has allowed), to make them and the third-class carriages so comfortable, that, by attractions of their own creation, they have actually desolated the first-class carriages. The comparative receipts, in English money, of all the principal French railways (namely, the Northern, Rouen, Havre. Orleans, Bordeaux, Vierzon, Boulogne, Nantes, Strasburg, Bâle, Montreau, Marseilles, Lyons, Chartres), and the receipts, for the same periods, of the single British London and North-Western Railway, have been as follows:: For the middle week of May, 1851: Per Week. Per Day. £66,130 £9,447 6,863 Receipts of the French Railways above enumerated, Just beyond the barrière of Charenton, the limits of Paris, I observed, outside a butcher's shop tied to an iron ring in the wall, a fat ox, over whose ruminating head was inscribed "Durham." "Why," said I to his lord and master, who was standing at the door," have you decked his horns with laurel leaves, coloured ribands, and with those two tricoloured flags ?" "Monsieur," he replied with great gravity and pride, "c'est pour lui faire honneur." Which, I suppose, said I to myself, in plain English means to turn him into beef. REVIEW. UNDER the old-fashioned monarchical institutions of Europe there has long existed, and there still exists, a time-honoured series of forms of invitation, gradually descending by a flight of steps, each very accurately measured, from "I am commanded to invite you," down to "Come along and dine with us!" In the Republic of France a penultimate step has been adopted, and, accordingly, the printed form of invitation to dine at the palace of the Elysée runs as follows:— Présidence de la République. Le Président de la République prie M de venir diner chez lui Le à 7 heures.* N. LEPIC. Having had the honour to receive a card of this description, on the day and at the hour appointed I drove to the Elysée, where, after having been received in the entrance-hall by the well-appointed arrangements I have previously describ *Presidency of the Republic. The President of the Republic requests come and dine with him on at 7 o'clock. N. LEPIC. to |