The Sun.
London, England, 1852-12-10 00:00:00

The first decision must be on the principle ;
and that, we believe, will be decidedly in favour
of Ministers, even though Lord JOHN RUSSELL
should be so unwise as to bring up his forces as
auxiliary to Messrs. GLADSTONE and GOULBURN.
The next point will be on the details ; and there
we concur with Mr. HUME, in thinking that

Ministers have not gone far enough. If the pri

ciple be correct—as we believe it to be—it shou

be carried very much farther than suggested. It
can scarcely be asserted that incomes derived
from labour of any description, which would
totally fail, not merely on the death of the reci-

pient, but on a loss of health or even a.change of
fashion, could be worth three-fourths of money in
the Funds or in well-circumstanced ground-rents.
This, however, is a minor consideration. The
principle being once finally settled, the details and
propositions will easily be disposed of.

What, in the name of common sense, are they
going to do with that miserable old bridge at
Westminster? In answer to an inquiry on the
subject addressed to him the other evening, in
the House of Commons, the Noble Lord the
Chief Commissioner of Woods and Forests, men-
tioned something about erecting the new bridge
on the old site. As if we hadn't "had enough of
it I As if the ground just at that spot had not
been proved, by a sufficiently expensive experi-
ence, to be altogether too rotten for any stable
foundation ! Why, the thing is preposterous.
If, in connection with the River Thames, any one
fact is more notorious than another, it is that the
present is about the worst site that could by any
possibility be selected for a bridge spanning by
stone arches from Lambeth to Westminster.
Look at it ! Positively one of the most dis-
graceful structures in the metropolis. And why ?
Simply because the bed of the river is giving way
there under the pressure of the superincumbent
masonry—until one arch settles down all awry,
and another gets quite horridly lopsided, and the
" parripidge," as Mrs. GAM? calls it, has to be
taken down, and replaced by common hoarding,
and the whole thing becomes at last prematurely
ruinous, and an eye-sore, situated exactly cheek-
by-jowl with the gorgeous and beautiful palace of
the Legislature. Yet, Lord JonN ALINNEns can
coolly rise from his seat on the Treasury Bench,
and, in answer to an inquiry on the subject, in-
form the House that the old site is still to be
preserved (of course, as something precious) for
the new bridge about to be commenced, for the
convenience and adornment of Westminster.
Ohe I Jam, satis. Enough at least for our-
selves ; and we should fancy, too, for the
Honourable Representative for Montrose, that
most vigilant as well as veteran econo-
mist. Unless some timely change be effected in
the Cabinet in this particular, we shall have the
dismay of quietly looking on while the contrac-
tom for the new bridge are leisurely playing ducks
and drakes with the public money. Literally, it
will be so, if an effectual effort be not made to
alter the projects at present contemplated. Ac-
cording to those projects, a temporary bridge
must be erected hard by the old site, for the con-
venience of the local traffic, while the old struc-
ture is being pulled down, and the new one
erected. That will be an enormous and profli-
gate, because wholly unnecessary expenditure.
Then there will be the supplementary expenditure
of patching and bolstering up the new bridge when
it is raised—mid surely, we know how ruinous
that intermittent outlay becomes in the end,
from the forize of a very heavy and bitter experi-
ence. Whei :eas, all this preposterous squander-
ing of the funds of the nation might easily
kingdoms be a' voided, as any blockhead in the three
.
irowsgtnitnsa a m readily perceive and appreciate.
bridge Y
have the at once be indicated. Erect the new
the sou,
difuelilit iwhat lower down the river, and all
the foundiPivi
doing duty • an
of formatio/ a,
be required Ytiort:s. at. once avoided. You will then
sonithyatof selecting good ground for
the you will have the old bridge
time its successor is in process
oexratrrya oauidtlaoyf
traffic
between La mfberthtlaund Westminster. Besides all
temporary at
ealtl
of having the new bridge
o swhich,u w
a i tll:advantageextend so far as materially to
sit._ 1
le
oui d
enhance the picturesque effect of the Palace'