The Sun.
London, England, 1852-12-31 00:00:00

the soil. They have weathered the worst already ;
they are tasting with all of us the advantages of
lighter shop bills, and of diminished poor-rates.
Why should they, too, not look forward, and
with good heart, to a happy New Year ?

Yesterday we noticed the magnificent scheme
set on foot for the construction of a Central Rail-
way Terminus in the heart of our metropolis.
To-day we would direct the attention of the com-
munity to another and a kindred project of equal
utility, if not of equal splendour. A Thames
Railway! A railway traversing the noble river
that almost bisects the capital of England—from
London Bridge to the proposed new bridge -at
Westminster. A Company, provisionally registered
under the Act 7 and 8 VICT., cap. 110, has already
been formed for the purpose of carrying out the
enterprise. Its capital is fixed at 600,0001., in
30,000 shares of 201. each, with a deposit of 21.
per share. It is even now furnished with Direc-
tors; Engineers, Solicitors, Parliamentary Agents,
Bankers, Brokers, and a Secretary. It has teni-
porary offices at 18, Cannon-street. Its title is
simply that of The London and Westminster
Thames Railway : and we have now lying before
us its first " Prospectus," illustrated by a
plan of the course intended to be taken, as well as
by a view of the design in section and in
elevation. According to this document, the
undertaking is to build not only a railway, but
over the railway a commodious roadway—two
miles and two chains in length—from London
Bridge to the Bridge at Westminster. Both
roadway and railway are to be supported on cast-
iron columns and wrought-iron girders—a hint
taken, doubtless, from the framework of the
Palace of the Exhibition. Such positions and
such levels are to be adopted, as will admit of free
access, at all times of the tide, to the various
wharves along the Thames--the line taken through-
out being along the side of Middlesex. As yet it
would seem that nothing has been definitively
settled as to whether the power of traction will
be stationary or locomotive—a question to
be submitted to the consideration of the
Committee on the Bill when it is laid upon
the tables of the Legislature. As to the rate of
travelling, passengers are to be conveyed by this
railway in six minutes from London Bridge to
Westminster—instead of, as at present, twenty
minutes or half-an-hour by steamboats dependent
upon the fluctuations of the tide, or a still longer
period by omnibuses liable to stoppage and some-
times to a dead-lock, by way of pleasant interrup-
tion. Between intermediate stations the lapse of
time will, of course, be still less, but six
minutes will carry the passenger from Lon-
don Bridge to Westminster. As to the
cost of this rapid travelling—it is proposed that
it shall be a penny for third class, twopence for
second class, and threepence for first class, making
an average of three-halfpence per passenger.
Surely a magnificent enterprise —an enter-
prise which we have justly called a com-
panion one to that of the Central Railway
Terminus--and oue which, combined with the
long-talked-of embankments on the Surrey side (if
not also on the Middlesex side of the Thames)
would tend not less to increase the convenience
than to enhance the beauty of the capital of Great
Britain.