The Sun.
London, England, 1864-07-19 00:00:00

is surely an insult to common sense for men to go
about with the paraphernalia of rejoicings,
s apposed to celebrate the feast of unity and the
triumph of concord, when their swords have made
women childless, and while multitudes of widows
and orphans are thronging the highways. If led
by the spirit of intolerance the Americans had
hitherto kept up the delusive mockery of the anni-
versary of the glorious fourth, this year imperatively
and emphatically called upon them to stop, Even
allowing, for the sake of argument, that they suc-
ceed in conquering their opponents and drag back
their wandering flocks to the folds and renew the
old times, still what can account for their celebrate
ing as unity a state of things which has had no
parallel in the annals of history for misery, confu-
sion, and affliction. What with the complicated
nature of the dispute, the strength which the quar-
rel had -gained during the long years it had been
pent up, and the extensive means of warfare, to-
gether with the indomitable spirit of one side of the
belligerents, and the fierce persecution which ani-
mated the other, the war has assumed from the out•
set a force and magnitade which have been extra-
ordinary. The beholding nations have gazed and
trembled ; and those of foresight have all along
predicted that, when once the disputing parties had
resort to arms, long and terrible would be the con-
test that would ensue. It is a curious thing, and one
that most effectively points the moral to this strange
affair, that the day before the celebration of the
" fourth," an individual should have departed this
life whose existence had comprised more than the
term of years that the glorious Republic of WASH•
INGTON had seen. The Hon. JOSIAH QUINCY,
of Boston, Massachusetts, was a British subs
ject by birth, sixteen years older than
the Union and the Federal constitution. It
is true that his life was prolonged beyond the
ordinary limit, but who that signed that declara-
tion or hailed its advent among them but trusted
and believed it was to last through succeeding
generations, and that their children's children
should transmit it inviolate and uncorrupt to the
limits of a distant posterity. All human works
must be insecure and unstable at the best, and
perhaps the chief danger that has lurked in the
structure of the American Union has been the
denial of this fact, We have heard of boasting
that knew no bounds—satire on the forms of go-
vernment of different nations that never practised
reticence—but of diffidence in their own creations,
and doubts of their own wisdom, there has never
been the shadow of a suspicion or the murmur of a
doubt. What a lesson dces the death of the vene•
rable QUINCY afford to those flushed and elated with
the pride of life, and eager in the expectation of the
fruition of their plans ! His last thoughts must
have been indeed peculiar, and the retrospect of
his career was a history in itself alike a romance
and a tragedy. His existence had witnessed the
failure of the opposite extremes of Government,
the insecurity of monarchical rule carried to un-
wise extremities, and the instability of republican
notions when not sustained by principle and carried
out with consistency. The conclusion to be drawn
from this remarkable state of things would seem to
be the reversal of the old adage, " Measures and
not men," It does not matter so much what form
of government is adopted if only it is carried out
with integrity, if independence does not dege-
nerate into the loss of all restraint, and regal
power is not merged into that absolutism which
confuses the just relations of society. It was the
fashion a short time back for some of our politicians
to laud and praise the American Union, and hold it
up as an object of far greater worth and regard than
our time-honoured Constitution that has stood so
many tests and been the wonder of so many other
nations. It is not likely that these admirers of
Transatlantic institutions will confess their mistake,
because they have imbibed, with their zeal for the
Republic, no small share of the bumptiousness
which characterises the denizens of the cities of that
Republic ; but their hearers must remember their
glowing accounts of the wonders of the Union, and
contrast the past with the present. The institution
has not lasted a century, and we might regret its
abrupt termination, if we did not remember the
false principles that have actuated those who have
had the charge of carrying out its precepts. The
mantle of its founders has fallon on those who were
inspired by no elevated ideas, and determined to
stop at nothing and spare no one who came in their
way. It would be well if JOSIAH QUINCY had car•
ried with him to the grave the last remnants of a
strife that is so desolating, and that the record of
the Union might henceforth be one of the things of
the past.

The advantages and conveniences afforded by
the metropolitan railways are acknowledged on all
hands, notwithstanding the temporary annoyance
and discomfort which they frequently occasion.
It has indeed been felt to be wise to curtail their
scope and to put some limits to that spirit of en-
terprise and speculation which threatened at one
time to render the centre of the metropolis little
more than a vast terminus. Bat on the whole the
general feeling is in favour of a moderate exten-
sion of the metropolitan lines, and their promoters
have received a fair support from the great body
of the people. This has notably been the case
with one of the most important of the proposed
lines—the Hampstead and Charing cross Railway.
It will be remembered that one conspicuous feature
of this scheme was the formation of a new street
between the upper part of St. Martin's lane and
the south end of Tottenham-court-road. Such a
street is greatly needed ; for although there are '
plenty of thoroughfares, little dirty crooked bye-
ways for the most part, there is no broad clean
open highway, such as is required by the constant
traffic of that part. The railway in opening such
a street would be conferring a benefit upon foot
passengers as well as the travellers on its own
lines, and there is ho- question that the prospect
of this material advantage considerably modified
the opposition to the scheme. The inhabitants of
the main throronghfares, which would be affected
by the progress of the works, naturally felt some
uneasiness when the idea was first suggested ; but,
in contradistinction to the residents in many other
places similarly situated, they agreed to support the
bill,
and withdrew the opposition that had at first
been made in their name. It is no wonder, then, that
considerable disappointment and indignation should
be felt by the inhabitants of these districts on the
receipt of notices by the authorities of the intention
of the promoters of the Hampstead, Midland, North
Western, and Charing Cross Junction Railway to
abandon the most important portion of their bill,
and not to proceed with any portion of their pro.
posed line beyond Ampthillesqnare, Hampstead•
road, where it is to join the London and North.
Western. So that all the subway from that spot to
Charing Cross is to be abandoned; at the saving of
course of great expense to the company, but also at
the sacrifice of the public convenience. The new
street through
St. Giles's is heard no more cf, and
she inhabitants of St. Pancras and other places who
have been willing to submit to much temporary
inconvenience for the sake of this bill as it originally
stood, now find that they are to be rewarded for
their forbearance by something very like a breach
of faith on the part of the company, The residents