xxxiv Appendix No. 1.
Hawkwood Plain by an embankment from thirty-five to forty feet high!
This embankment would cut the " sky-line " of spectators from a vast
number of positions, and completely destroy some of the most admired
views in the forest. The ground being very low, the archways through
the embankment would be soon trodden into a quagmire by the com-
moners' cattle, and Hawk or Bury Wood, with its fine views over the Lea
Valley, be rendered practically inaccessible to the pedestrian.
5. As a Natural History Society, we most emphatically assert that the
proposed railway, with its embankments, cuttings, roads, ways, stations,
and concomitant noise and other evils, would most seriously affect,
injure, and destroy the valuable fauna and flora of the district. The
Forest is one of the very few remnants of primaeval woodland now exist-
ing in England, and has for nearly a century been the resort of that class
of Londoners who take the purest delight in a ramble in free air in
search of natural objects and phenomena. We have signatures repre-
senting nearly four thousand amateur naturalists of London protesting
against anything likely to injure the forestal and primitive character of
the district. A large number of such earnest students are to be found in
the so-called " working classes," and their views assuredly command
every attention.
6. The passing of the Bill, by which portions of public land would be
given over to a private company for frivolous and totally inadequate
motives, would create a dangerous precedent that would inevitably lead,
at no distant date, to the appropriation, mutilation, and disfigurement of
other portions of the Forest, and—for similar and (though plausible)
equally transparent objects—of New Forest, Dean Forest, and other large
and magnificent recreation-grounds of this country, which it is of the
highest public policy to protect from such spoliation. And apart from
the injuries above referred to, the future consequences would be even
more serious-for a huge residential district would spring up, at no
distant date, along the line of the railway route, and thus—owing to the
narrowness of the belt of woodland and glade comprised within the
Forest—would have the effect, before many years had passed, of entirely
changing its forestal character—a character which Parliament and uni-
versal public opinion determined that it should retain.
7. The views of those who wish the Forest retained in its natural con-
dition, undisfigured and "unimproved," have been ably advocated by the
leading press on this and former occasions, and many eminent clergymen,
men of science, artists, and literateurs sympathise most strongly with
our contentions. We are told that these views are aesthetic and senti-
mental. Was not the rescue of Epping Forest, at a vast expense of time,
energy, and money, a sentimental proceeding ?—to retain for overworked
London a scene of primitive nature for its rational enjoyment for ever.
What is there of practical foresight in acquiring a tract of unique wood-
land, and then destroying it piecemeal on the plea of "improving" and
rendering it 'accessible ? The great feature of Epping Forest is its
naturalness ; that effaced, and its highest value vanishes. We have no
cause of complaint against the Great Eastern Railway Company. The
Directors, as a commercial body, have no doubt a very clear object in view
for the benefit of their shareholders, at the nature of which we can only
give a shrewd guess. We have every feeling of gratitude for the noble
work done in the past in connection with Epping Forest by the Corpora-
tion of London, but we think the present acting Conservators have shown
that they misapprehend their duties in relation to the management of
the Forest, and we most sincerely hope that the public and Parliament
will not permit the gradual destruction and extinction of the grandest
recreation-ground possessed by any European city by the mistaken action