The Sun.
London, England, 1864-12-09 00:00:00

The Pass of Mont Cenis.

A letter dated Turin, Dec. 4, says, from the oppressive
stove-heated atm spber e of the Senate-house, and front the
endless and boot tors discussion of a settle I question, it is a
relief to fly for a moment to the crests of Mont CtiliS
and watch the heavy sledges and their sorely jotted inmates
struggling through the fresh-fallen snow. "Twenty-six
hours from Paris to Turin," one read, not more than six
weeks ago, posted, on the wall of both capitals. The an.
nouncement, never very strictly true, has since be drs
suspended; we are ou the winter establishment, and the
time employed is more like six and thirty, with the r-assage
of the mountain made chiefly in the night, and arrived to an
early breakfast in Turin. And wait a little, till this month
wears on, or at farthest in January, when the wind-storms
come in the mountains, and we shall have, the old story
repeated, and our letters and papers from Paris deliverssd
here only in 43 or even 60 hours. 'Where are those moles,
burrowing below our feet? Listen for the tap of the
machine cf many hammers, knocking at the doors of Alpine
gnomes and driving them to their innermost recesses and
most secret caves, there to plot mischief and prepare perils
for the daring miners, bent upon the penetration' of mys-
teries sacred since the world commenced. Well as the ma,,,
chinery is said to answer, and with the help of many hands
and all the appliances that have been brought to bear, the
passage opens but slowly. The annual sum allowed for the
prosecution of the monster tunnel hes been doubled, nod
£200,000 is each year devoted to th's mighty labour. But,
gold and iron, the toil of men, the power of ingenious eTs-
gines, the blast of powder, are all in vain to hur.y a work
which from its nature must of necessity be slow. Five
ye Ira have now elapsed sinca its commencement; at first
there were delays, interruptions, difficulties esk venous
kinds, and it is only much more recently that the enter-
urise can be said to have got into full swing. A handsome
result will be shown by the report of 1361, but it is ob•
tained, as above stated, at an annual charge heavy for Ea.
lien finances in their present state, and—even continuing
at the same pace and excluding the unfavourable hypothesis
of new difficulties Leing enconutered, such as deep chasms
or large bodies of water--it is estimated that not less than
ten years must elapse before the bold miners, advancing
simultaneously from the French and the Italian flanks of
the Alps, shall exchange a first triumphant greeting in the
bowels cf the menu ain. Ten years are a long time for a
public spoilt by the conveniences of railway travelling, by
carriages as large as rooms, and by spacious well-cushioned
arm-chairs. It is the more urn nt to shorten the period as
much as possible because the chief flow of travellers from
Western Europe to and from Italy occurs at seasons of the
year when the mountain is apt to be in the worst state for
passage, The promised railway along the Cornice road,
when completed, will assuredly much diminish the traffic
over Mount Cenis. As it is, this latter route sees but
a tithe of the travellers that each year visit Italy.
Diligences are cramped and incommodious vehicles,
and seems the more S 9 when one steps int) them
from a railway, and many prefer Marseilles and
the sea route. Turin, about to lose its character as a capi.
Cal and therewith the greater part of its import-nce, ought
to be doubly anxious to make this the favourite road into
Italy, and, were the tunnel finished, there is no doubt that

it would be preferred by all but those summer tourists who
might be attracted by the grand scenery of the other Alpine
passes. Meanwhile there is a project on foot which, if car-
ried out—as there are good hopes that it shortly will be--
must rendar this the most desirable road and much the
most rapid, and must increase the traffic, instead of its being
diverted into other channels by the new railway coraniuni.
cations. You were told on a former occasion of a plan for a
railway over Al out Ueda. The locomotives to be employed
were tried last winter in the Derbyshire hills, on ascents
and descents fully equal to the most rapid slopes of Cenis,
and the success of the invention was established to the per-
fect satisfaction of the scientific men present, including a
commissioner appointed by the Italian Government. The
FrenCh Government is desirous to see the experiment made
on its own territory, and on the same ground upon which
it is prolosed to make a practical application of the sy evem
to the public service; and it has accotdiugly authorised
the immediate construction of a few lolumeires of rai' be-
tween Lanslebourg and the summit of the Cenis, in the
steepest and most difficult part of the whole line. The strip
of rail is already begun, and is expected to be complett d
next month, or at latest in February, when trains will be
run by way of trial. That time of year is usually the worst
fur the p.iseage of the mountain, so that success then will
be success for ever. A French commission has been ap-
pointed to be present at the trials. The English capitalists.
and engineers who have undertaken this mountain railway
are perfectly easy as to the result. The only opposition to
the projeot has proceeded has proceeded, as might be ex-
pected, from the French Messageries, which at present en-
joy the monopoly of conveyance between St. Michel and
Susa. They have a large stock of horses and vehicles—
diligences and sledges, the mere recollection of which makes
one's banes ache—and we hear that they have put the screw
on the French Government and compelled it, by the threat
of stopping the communication before the rail shall be com-
pleted, to agree to grant them a considerable indemnity
when the locomotive shall run them off the road. For Turin's
sake it is to be hoped that all will go well, and that the
Units will be the route ultimately taken by the ambitious
rai', for which mountains in future will be no impediment.
The Swiss would be well pleased to see the Simplon pre..
ferred, and even offer advantages for such preference, and
that pass presents no greater difficulties than this one; but,

if it were adopted, the consequence would be most serious
for Turin until such time as the tunnel shall be completed.
Milan would be the gainer ; the traffic would all take that
road, the shortest and most direct to Central and Southern
Poly, and Turin would be isolated, shut up in a corner and
visited by none; in short, completely out of the world.
Travellers would go round .Piedmont, by the Cornice or
across Western Lombardy, but very few indeed would go
through it.
According to the programme of the contractors, two

locomotive: will conveys train of 100 to 150 passengers,
with their baggage and the Post-office bags, in four to four
and a half hours from Snsa to St Michel. They undertake
to do this at all times of the year. They are to have allotted
w them a portion of the present coach road, on which to
lay their rails, and they are to build tunnels or covered gal,
leries in places where danger of avalanches renders it ne-
cessary. The cifference made to travellers by the establish-
ment of this railway will be immense. You now leave
Paris at 8 p.m., and arrive here some time between 3 and
8 a.m. on the second morning; 5 o'clock seems the most
usual hour at present. but it may be expected to get much
worse as the winter advances. With a rail across the Cenis
you would get here to dinner at 4 or 5 in the it fternoon.
From Turin the mail train would start at 9 a.m. Both
ways the mountain would be crossed in broad daylight, in,
stead of in the dark, as is now the case, and travellers
would be able to enjoy the scenery
at present completely
lost to them. Ever) thing looks promising for the realisa-
tiOn of this useful and desirable scheme, to which the Its-

Han Government, for the sake of poor Turin, will surely
give all the support and aid in its power. The rail once
run over the Cenis, it is to be expected that the example
will be extensively followed for the passage both of Alps
and Appenines, the more so es the cost of these mountain
lines is said very little to exceed that of railways in the
plain.

In the last sitting of the Turin Common Council it was
decided to appoint a committee to study and report upon the
best and most speedy means of establishing a railway
across Mont Cenis, with authority to put itself in communi-
cation with the company that is already occupying itself
with that project. The great importance of facilitating corn.
municatiors between this city and other parts of the Con-
tinent was dwelt upon and fully recognised, and it was re •
golved to give the moral co-operation bf the municipality to
the representatives of the society in question,

--Last Evening.
Bank of England Return,

An Account, pursuant to the Act 7th and Bth Victorip,
can. 32, for the week ending on Wednesday, the 7th day
joii ec. 1864:

ISSUE DE P ABTMEN T.