The Press. — London, England, 1853-08-13 00:00:00

7; l ' 338 in Lord ST. GERMANS' estimation, is fit to to be an Education Commissioner. If Lord ST. GERMANS had sent Mr. HATCHELL as a pupil to the Board, we would have commended such a good-natured act. But to place him as a Commissioner in the room of Mr. BLACKHCRNE is carrying the love of a piece of fun even too far for the latitude of Ireland. What acade mical attainments, what high • professional standing, can Mr. HATCHELL boast of that he should be thought worthy of occupying—we will not say filling—the vacated seat of Mr. BLAeRsuRNE ? We have heard of an English Attorney-General who was called, in military parlance, " a Protestant unattached," and, with a simil .r fa:on de parler, we may talk of Mr. HATCHELL as an Attorney General cashiered. It is certain that he was in London on the forma tion• of the present Cabinet, and it is equally certain that the Coalition preferred to take up Mr. BREWSTER, or even Mr. KEOGH, in prefer. ence to Mr. HATCHELL; and yet this is the man (-howl at a critical period to give weight, and dignity, and moral power to the " Board of Education." We could almost wish that the viceregal presentments to office should be sub ject to grand-jury processes, in order that the HATCHELL presentment miFlit be endorsed with the specially appropriate word, " Igno raMl.lB." The notion of Mr. llATcitEm. pre siding over education is almost as ludicrous as that of the member for Kidderminster editing " Lord Chesterfield," or Sir W. MOLESWORTH eomposing sermons on the duties of lay patrons. . .. THE RAILROAD BUNGLE. HAs it ever occurred to any of our readers (nut an actual holder of railroad shares) to take up the morning's Times, and, running his eye down the long enumeration of some seventy or eighty British railroads, and ten or twelve French, to ask himself the question, how it comes about that all the latter (with but one petty exception) are at a hiyh premium ; whilst every railroad in Great Britain and Ire land (except five or six) is at a dixeount, vary ing from five per cent. to seventy ? This is a startling fact, but it is one tho truth of which may be verified iu a moment. Look only at the following list of the twelve leading railroads of France, every one of which has proved a prize to its fortunate shareholders. There is one exception, the little line from Strasbourg to Basle, which is at a discount of thirty per cent. on the paid up cost ; Linos. Premium. per Cent. Northern of Franco Paris and Lyons Paris and Strasbourg Paris and Orleans Paris and Rouen Paris and St. Germain Paris, Cacu, and Cherbourg Southern of France *einem of France Rouen and Havre Lyme and Mediterranean The uniformity of this illustration of suc c•essful enterprise is not less striking than its magnitude. All these are twenty-pound shares. and yet they are selling at a profit varying from twenty : /ire to two hundred and twenty per rent. And now turn 10 the gloomy memorial of British disappointment, and contrast the two results. Six lines alone out of the whole list are at a premium, viz.:— _ . . Lines. Premium. per Cent. Bristol and Exoter Dublin and Belfast 3 .... 6 G. South. and West. of Ireland 12 .... 12 London and Brighton London and North-Western Lancaster awl Carlisle 45 .... 45 AU the rest ure losing colleen's, at a rate varying from a discount, of two pounds to serenty-eiyht. Looking to th© latest quotations, the following are the prices at which the most important of the British railroads can be purchased iu the market at the present mo ment THE PRESS. Lines. Discount. per c cut. Caledonian Chester and Holyhead Eastern Counties Edinburgh and Glasgow Great Northern 23 .... 23 Great Western Lancashire and Yorkshire London and South• Western Midland Norfolk North Staffordshire Scottish Ci•ntral Ditto Midland South Eastern . 2B .... 28 York and North Midland 39 .... 39 Others less important show a still more ruinous loss to the original proprietors, such as the Aberdeen, which is at a discount of 73 ; the East Anglian of 78 ; the Edinburgh. Perth, and Dundee of 70; the Leeds Northern of 68 ; the North British of 66 ; and others varying from 50 to 25. In reply to the question how this singular result has been brought about, we answer unhesitatingly, by carrying the non-interference principle to a ruinous extreme. Sir ROBERT PEEL with a fatal ardour advo cated the policy of leaving private enterprise to its own unaided and all but uncontrolled volition,—the revolutionising the entire sys tem of internal communication throughout the British dominions. The effects of this laissez faire policy are thus before us :—the kingdom cut up into incongruous sections, and traversed by exceptional highways, with occa sionally incompatible gauges ;—and all this scramble for speculation, which was to have enriched and adorned the empire, has ended, us we see above, in indiscriminate disappoint ment and almost universal loss. In triumphant contrast to the example of Great Britain, the Government of France, and those of the Continent generally, perceived with a clearer foresight that the construction of a .novel system of communication between every extremity of a kingdom was a subject, not for individual caprice, but for a national solicitude and imperial supervision. Hence the triumph of their railroad system, in the symmetry of its projection, the economy of its construction, and the appreciable value of its different sec tions as a private investment. Tardily and timidly our rulers have dis covered their own error, and applied a stealthy remedy. Government interference was at tempted—first, by the Board-of-Trade control, and, subsequently, by the cautious admission in the colonies and in Ireland of official guaran tees, to ensure a limited return upon individual investment. . . At length, at the close of a protracted in quiry, the President of the Board of Trade is now about to submit to the Legislature a scheme for confiding to the authorities an efficacious and controlling voice in the pro jection, the construction, and the management of the leading lines of communication to be hereafter undertaken. There is to be, hence forth, an umpire who is to appease the sullen war which now goes on universally between the public and the army of railroad officials. After squandering 70,000,0001. in iniquitous contests in Parliament for the triumph of rival projects—after abandoning lines sanctioned, to the extent of 40,000.0001., but which proved too absurd to be ever made—a committee of Par liament is at last to be empowered to consult the interests of the public and the country, as well as those of their shareholders in the lines they undertake, and to enforce the regularity and responsibility which were the consideration and the condition of the powers entrusted to them by the Legislature. The plan now submitted to Parliament falls far short of the hold and comprehensive policy of other countries in grappling with this momentous question. But even as a compro mise and instalment it will effect the impor tant object of discouraging, in limine, those un wise contests which have absorbed so many millions ; it will stifle in their birth the un sound projects which have only been sanc tioned by the House of Commons to be abandoned by their own projectors : and, above all, it deters. under the threat of pains and penalties. the dishonest opposition by which lines of imperial value have been here tofore so harassed in their initiatory stage through Parliament, as to be encumbered in SATURDAY, all their after administration by the fearful expenditure for costs, charges, compensation, and hush-money, which was indispensably squandered, in order to purchase for them a l'scus standi in Parliament, and an existence as a legalised adventure. CUBA. THE designs of the American Republic against Cuba are scarcely concealed, and a parlia mentary paper recently delivered furnishes more conclusive evidence respecting them than any which has yet been made public. It is already known to readers of the PRESS that, among the many instances of complete concord existing between the French and English Governments while Lord MALatEs- BURY presided at the Foreign Office, not the least important was a proposed tripartite re nunciation of all iutention, present or pros pective, to assume the sovereignty of that island, in which the United States should be the third concurring power. It is known also that this proposition was rejected by the American Government on the avowed ground that such a pledge might inconveniently ham per their operations at some future period. the entire correspondence is now in our hands, and a more remarkable series of diplo matic documents has not often engaged the attention of Parliament. _ Nothing can be inure simple or straightfor ward than the terms in which Lord MALMES. BURY authorises Mr. CRAMPTON to open the ne gotiation. " Cuba," he argues, " has been " more than once attacked, or threatened, by " bands of adventurers acting in defiance both "of their own and of international law. The " tendency of such attacks is to compromise " the character of the American Government " and endanger the peace of the world. That " Government has distinctly repudiated all " participation in the aggression, or sympathy " with the aggressors. France and England " both agree in disclaiming all designs upon " the island. It is the interest, and ostensibly " the wish, of all three nations, that Spain " should retain possession of its colony. Why " not, then, enter into a convention to that " effect, and thus discourage attempts which " would certainly not be made but for a belief, " however ill founded, that they will meet with " sympathy and support front the Cabinet of " Washington ?" Such was the project of the British Minis ter. Spain thanked him—France concurred — Mr. WEBSTER, then American Secretary of State, entertained, or affected to entertain, the idea with favour ; by his death, negotiations were interrupted, delay ensued—the offer had been communicated in April 32, December had arrived before a reply was returned ; at last it came—a refusal—and on what grounds? Mr. EVERETT states them with sufficient clear ness, and with something of the national pro lixity. " The President" (we quote his words) " does not covet the acquisition of Cuba for " the United States. At the same time he " considers the condition of Cuba as mainly " an American question, and to a limited ex " tent only an European question." In plain English, "It does not suit us to take Cuba " just now, but whenever we do choose to " take it we shall do so; and our decision is "no business of yours." Mr. EVERETT then proceeds to enumerate objections of form — the possible reluctance of the Senate—the traditional caution with which America regards " entangling alliances "—and the impossibility of any nation binding itself effectually as re gards the future. He discourses in a very significant tone on the possible value of the island to America, and finally adds that " the " conclusion of such a treaty, instead of put " ting a stop to these lawless proceedings, " would give a new and powerful impulse to " them. It would strike a deathblow to the " conservative policy hitherto pursued in this " country towards Cuba." The purport of this letter was communicated to the Senate. and its substance there debated. Very fiery speeches were delivered - -Messrs . CASS and MssoN being foremost in protesting against the suggested convention ; both on