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LIFE OF CHARLES HALIDAT.
In 1864 there was a project before Parliament for a central Chts. Haliday
general railway terminus in Dublin. One part of the plan fr ai
was to run a viaduct diagonally across Westmoreland-street, Termlnu&-
at the height of about twenty feet above the pavement. It
was to pass from near the second house on the east side
nearest to Carlisle-bridge, to the middle house on the
opposite side, in other words about half-way down that side
between Fleet-street and the river. Mr. Haliday, to whom
nothing that concerned the port or city
of Dublin was
indifferent, saw that the finest view in Dublin would be thus
sacrificed. He at once organized resistance to the scheme,
collecting witnesses of approved
character to confront the
witnesses of the projectors, writing letters in the public
prints, stirring up the Corporation to protect the city. The
Corporation took the best way of bringing to the notice of
the citizens the disfigurement of the city that would follow
the completion of the plan. They erected a wooden frame
work, of the size of the proposed viaduct, across the street
in the exact line of its direction at the height intended, and
kept it there until after the Parliamentary inquiry was
over. It was at once plain to every eye that the huge
ungainly structure would spoil the finest architectural scene
in the city. Just as the only fine view of that noble build-
ing of St. Paul's Cathedral in London is ruined by the
railway viaduct crossing Ludgate Hill, obstructing the view
of Sir Christopher Wren's masterpiece, and cutting its front
in half; so by this project, Nelson's column and the bold
Ionic portico of the General Post Office adjacent, as viewed
from Westmoreland-street would have been ruined, and in
like manner, the fine grouping of the Corinthian columns of
the Lords' portico in connexion with the front of Trinity
College as seen from Sackville-street.
Mr. Haliday proceeded to London with hi* witnesses,
entertained them there, kept them together, attended their
examination before the Committee of the Lords, and the bill
for the scheme was thrown out, owing in a great degree to
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