The Sun.
London, England, 1864-11-15 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF

out to be a flash in the pan.' The fuse failed. An officer
then went up, who must have had great confidence in the
gun, and snapped the cap, and off went the big gun. The
report was very little louder than that which immediately
preceded it. There was no perceptible concussion of the
ground, and indeed very little of anything to lead you to
think that the greatest gun known to exist had then been
fired. The shot whirled through the air from the angle of
25 degrees, at which the gun was elevated, and, after de-
scribing a beautiful arc, which was visible to the naked eye,
dropped into the water about four miles off. The noise made
by the collision of the ball and the air, in the flight of the
former, was like the wail of a giant. It was something like
the peculiar noise made by a hurricane passing through a
ship's rigging. It was the scream of the eagle. The volume
of spray thrown up by the ball after its contact with the
water was so great that we could not see whether it rico-
cheted or not, though many said it did. Oa examining
the effect on the gun, it was discovered that this 'time the
giant was foaming a little at the mouth, the smoke of the
burnt powder still oozing from the muzzle. He had consented
to roll himself back five feet, but in other respects was just
as before."
CLAIMS AGAINST THE METROPOLITAN RAILWAY.
—At the Sheriffs' Court, Red Lion-square, yester-
day, three claims were made against the Metropolitan Rail-
way for injuries to tradesmen in the Euston-road during the
progress of the works of the railway. The first claim was
by a Mr Cole, a house decorator and paperhanger in the
Euston-road, who claimed £6OO for the injury done to his
business in the Euston-road, where he had been successful
in trade until he was interfered with by the obstructions
caused by the railway. It had so affected him that he got
rid of the place and was now out of business. He said he
was not aware that he had a claim for compensation. The
injury was done in 1861 and 1862. The jury awarded £5OO.
In the second case, "Dietman v. the Metropolitan Rail-
way" the claim was for £6OO. Dietman was a baker and
confectioner at the corner of the Hampstead-road, in the
Euston-road, where the omnibuses stopped, and money was
made out of the business. When the railway came the
business fell off, and his daughter said she had remained up
all night fearing that the house would fall down. Customers
would not enter the shop, and her father's mind became
affected. They were obliged to get rid of the lease and to
pay the creditors. Her father's mind had given way, and
when he got out he always went to the corner shop, and was
continually asking when he was to be "taken home." His
daughter said that he could neither dress nor feed himself,
and she a' :ributed it all to the railway. After the case had
proceeded some way the matter was settled. It was admitted
to be a hard case, and £lOO was given by the company to
settle the matter. The jury gave a verdict for that amount
by consent. The third case was "Ell v. the Metropolitan
Railway Company," and tho claim was for £650. The
claimant was a ladder-maker and wheelwright in the Eus-
ton-road. The business had been injured in 1861 by the
works of the railway, and the claim was delayed by Mr Ell
not knowing how to proceed or whether he had a right to
compensation. The case was adjourned to the 2d December.
In the three cases Mr Waddy appeared for the claimants,
and Mr llarrison for the company. Mr Humphreys, the
coroner, heard the cases as assessor, in consequence of Mr
Sheriff Dakin being one of the directors of the Metropolitan
Railway Company.

TIMES.—A more handsome proposal has seldom.
if ever, been made than that which Lord Spencer
explained last Friday to a meeting of the residents
of Wimbledon. As Lord of the Manor, he proposes,
if the consent of the copyholders and the sanction
of Parliament be obtained, to convert all the im-
portant part of Wimbledon Common into a public
park. Such an offer amounts to nothing less than
to make the public a present of a large and invalu-
able tract of ground. Wimbledon is fast becoming
nearly es much a suburb of London as Clapham or
Hampstead, and land is becoming proportionately
valuable for building purposes. Theswarm of houses
which spreads from the metropolis in all directions
wherever it can obtain an opening has already set-
tled around the Common, and is but waiting its
opportunity to occupy it. In such circumstances no
one could fairly have expected that those who had
in their hands the disposal of the Common should,
except in obediecce to a special law, refuse the
great pecuniary advantage thus afforded them. As
Lord Spencer stated on Friday, there can be no
question that he and the copyho:ders, if they acted
in concert, would be the only persons who would
have any voice in its disposal. No doubt, therefore,
Lord Spencer might, if he had so chosen, have carved
the whole Common into building plots, to his own
great advantage, but the great loss of the public.
More could not possibly have been expected than
that a moderate portion should be kept free from
brick and mortar, for the health and the ornament
of the new neighbourhood. With extraordinary
liberality, however, Lord Spencer completely for-
gets his private interests, and regards solely the
benefit of the public. e offers to abandon alto.
gether the prospect of deriving any personal profit
from the Common and to dedicate it for ever as a
park to the use of the public. So far as can be
judged at present the copyholders second these ge-
nerous intentions, but Parliament will, of course,
have nothing left to it but to accept with fitting
gratitude and honour such a public-spirited offer.
The fact of this surrender in itself would be suf-
ficient to deserve the heartiest acknowledgments,
but the value of the gift is enhanced in the only
way that is possible—by the manner in which it is
conveyed. Though the decision of the matter, as
we have said, rests with himself and the copy-
holders, subject to the sanction of Parliament, Lord
Spencer takes the residents of Wimbledon into his
councils, and offers to be guided in a measure by
their opinions and wishes. Not contented with
making the public a splendid gift, he deprives him-
self to some extent of the privilege of a donor, and
allows us in some way to determine the method of
his generosity. It would be hard, however, to ima-
gine a more liberal, or apparently a more satisfac-
tory, scheme than that which he has himself cons
ceived. He proposes to enclose with a light iron
railing the portion of the Common which lies be•
tween the village of Wimbledon and the Kingston.
road. This inclosure would be thoroughly drained,
openings would be left at sufficient intervals to offer
ready access from all points, the present roads
would be improved, new roads would be made,
lodges built, and the ground would be generally
ornamented and improved. All this would, of
course, involve a considerable expense, and there
are Common rights which would have to be com-
pensated. This expense he proposes to meet by the
sale of outlying portions of the Common. These
portions are of little public use, but they are, no
doubt, as valuable for houses as any other parts,
and it is not supposed that it will be necessary to
sell them all, The whole expense therefore of the
formation of the park will be provided for from the
Common itself, and the public will not have to con-
tribute anything to so great a boon, When the
park is formed Lord Spencer proposes to take upon
himself and his successors the whole current charges
of management and repairs, retaining for this pur-
pose the exclusive right of pasturage. He would
also be the superintendent, with the title of Protec-
tor, and, in conjunction with a Government official,
he would have the entire control of the park. By
this authority bye laws would be framed for the
management ; and it would be understood that, by
the consent of the Protector and the Government
official, associations of a national character should
be allowed to hold meetings there, This joint con•
trol of an officer of Government he modestly pro-
poses as a proper check to protect the public from
the consequences of any whim or caprice on the
part of himself or his successors'. By this scheme
the public would have secured to them for ever a
beautiful park of not less than 700 acres, or
not very far from the extent of Hyde Park and
Kensington Gardens together—a park which
has been found by experience to be admirably
adapted for the purposes of such national associa-
tions as Lord Spencer has in view, and which at all
times would offer to the inhabitants of London the
most healthy and picturesque place of recreation.
We do not see how a more thoughtful or more liberal
scheme could have'abeen proposed. In order, how-
ever, to estimate properly the boon which is thus '
offered to us, it is necessary to remember from how
great a difficulty and _even danger it may be the
means of extricating us, Our readers will rememe
ber the sharp passage of arms which took place in
the House of Commons last session on the question
of providing open spaces around the metropolis. In
the excitement which preceded the great Danish
debate it assumed the rank of a little party skirmish,
and the Government were defeated by a resolution
which declared it to be their duty to provide for the
preservation of these open spaces. At the same
time it was felt that the resolution laid on them a
task of extreme difficulty and vast expense. The
importance of the object, indeed, was far beyond
that of any mere party struggle. It is absolutely
essential for the health of the population of London,
if not for the purity of the air itself, that this vast
living organisation of brick and mortar should not
spread its petrifying power over every green field
that surrounds us. We must have within reasonable
reach of us opportunities for exercising that myste.
rious commerce which not our body alone, but every
faculty of our nature, seems to carry on with nature.
For great numbers in this city it is hard enough to
obtain these opportunities now, but it promised
soon to become harder still. London is extending
in every direction as it is over Wimbledon, and it
seemed as if nothing but special legislation could
prevent every common and green from being over•
spread with villas ..nd cottages. No one ever
dreamt that the proprietors of these open spaces,
daily becoming more and more valuable, would
spontaneously consult the public welfare instead of
their private interests, and would willingly sacrifice
claims which, without just complaint, they might
have firmly maintained and hardly sold. Bat what
no one could have dreamt of Lord Spencer has done.
While we are deliberating how partly to purchase
and partly to claim a necessity, he makes us a pre.
sent of it; and while we are considering how to
adjust the sacrifices which he must make for our
benefit and we for his interests, he cuts the knot by
making all the sacrifices himself, and leaving us
none which we can take upon ourselves. We need
hardly add that of all the open spaces near London
which it was important to preserve Wimbledon is,
perhaps, the most important.
POST.—Ere the close of the present week we
Shall learn the result of the Presidential election in
America, and shall know definitively to whom the
government of the Northern Republic is entrusted
for the next four years. On Tuesday last those
States which, either willingly or under coercion,
acknowledge the authority of the established Go-
vernment chose the delegates who constitute the
electoral college, and as the latter are simply the
mouth-pieces of those who appoint them, as soon
as the constituent members of the college are known
the result of the election is no longer a matter of
doubt. That we are impatient on this side of the
' Atlantic to know whether the Republican or the
Democratic candidate is the victor, it would be
affectation to deny, though, so far as regards that
in which we alone feel an interest, namely, the war,
it would be difficult, if not impossible, to affirm
which of the rival factions would soonest bring it
to a conclusion. It is not, however, in respect to
its immediate result that the election of the Federal
President is invested with its chief interest or its
principal importance. Under a Lincoln or a
M'Clellan the Republic might possibly hurry to-
wards ruin with equally rapid strides, bat the index
which the mode in which that election has been
conducted furnishes of the changes which a very
brief period has sufficed to work in American insti-
tutions cannot fail to rivet universal attention. The
occasions have been, unfortanately, but too fre.
quent on which we have been called upon to note
the apparent indifference with which American
citizens have permitted a responsible Government
to usurp those unlimited powers whose exorcise is
witnessed alone under a pure despotism, but it is
only now that we are made fully aware of the im-
mensity of the evil which has been wrought by
that ill-advised connivance at the misdeeds of the
Administration which was begotten by an over•
whelming desire to re-establish the Union. Each
fresh violation of the constitution was readily
excused under the plea of military necessity,
until at last the constitution for whose preservation
so much blood has been spilt has ceased to exist.
The population of the Northern States permitted
their elective magistrate to assume supreme power.
in the hopes of seeing it employed in subjugating
their foes. They now find, however, that the only
practical use to which it has been applied is the
annihilation of their politic& liberties. The events
of the past few weeks have notoriously created a
strong revulsion of feeling in favour of M'Clellan,
but it is no less notorious that the issue of the pend-
ing election was not influenced thereby in the
slightest degree. The framers of the American cone
stitution took special care to deprive the President
of the right of interference in the election of his