Grand Design
November 1858. Charlotte, Mary and Mr Kerr head to France for a visit. In the coach to Paris, Charlotte hears of a remarkable plan to connect Britain and France by railway.
18th Breakfasted in the table d’Hôte room. Embarked at about 8 o’clock. High, cold wind; Mary wheezing. Went to the cabin. All preparation for a rough passage. Every one “flat”. Mary made friends with a little girl, going to school at Paris. Several were ill, but we had a good passage. Arrived about ½ past 10, at Boulogne Walked to the station; M & I were ravenous, & devoured a large portion of a cold fowl. Then started for Paris, in a carriage with 2 Englishmen & a Frenchman. Was amused. The fat old Frenchman made known that he was a general, & had been 25 yrs in Africa, & several in the Crimea. Between each conversation, he had a snooze. One Englishman was Capt ___ who commanded the first steamer to India. He lives in the Rue de Rivoli, & invited the other Englishman to pay him a visit. He told us of a scheme there is to make a tabular railway bridge across the Channel, from the cliffs of Dover to Cape Gris Nez, which wd have to be raised about 200 feet to bring it on a level with the English end. The bridge is to be 500 feet above the sea, so as to allow the largest vessel, (including the “Great Eastern”) to pass under. It is supported on towers, 500 feet apart. Each tower is to be a lighthouse, & the roof of each, – an enormous gong, to warn vessels in storms & fogs, when they could not see the lights. Each end of the bridge is to be under cover of the batteries on both sides, & each tower a fortress capable of containing soldiery. It is to cost £30,000,000.* The other Englishman was a lawyer, taking a pleasure trip, & he informed Mary that he went wherever his fellow travellers advised him! Arrived in Paris behind time, – about ½ past 6. Passed through the Donâne, & got into a crowded omnibus, & drove to the Ge Hotel du Louvre, where we are lodged “an troisième”, in the “Quartier Royal” 278! Had tea & mutton chops in one of the salons.
Notes
It is to cost £30,000,000
The cost amounted to something like £ 1 billion, 294 million in today’s money.
