The Sun.
London, England, 1839-04-06 00:00:00

ETENING EDITION

ROADS AND CANALS IN FRANCE.

M. Berthault-Ducreux, civil engineer, and well
known in France for his works on roads, has lately
drawn up a comparative view of the respective ad-
vantages of traffic and communication by highways,
railways, and canals, of which the following outline
will be found interesting. Public opinion in France,
it appears, has much changed with regard to rail-
ways. At first, they were constructed chiefly for
the conveyance of merchandise, and little account
was made of passengers, while experience has
shown that their success must depend almost en-
tirely on the number of passengers, and that scarcely
any railroad for more than a very short distance can
be expected to make profitable returns on any other
calculation. Thus railways are found chiefly ap-
plicable in countries considerably advanced in
civilization. They are of vast importance in con-
necting manufacturing towns and populous indus-
trious cities that require constant and speedy
communication with each other. In France
at present the ordinary rate of travelling is about
six miles the hour, for about twopence per mile,
while on a good railway, the speed is from 25 to 35
miles the hour and the expense not more than one
penny per mile, and in some localities less. For in-
stance, the fare from Paris to St. Germain, by the
lowest class carriages, is about eightpence for some-
what more than teri miles.

The roads in France are under three different
heads of management. The royal roads are main-
tained at the expense of the State, the provincial
or departemental roads at the expense of the de-
partments, and the•village roads at the expense of
the respective localities. The whole length of the
royal roads is 25,000 miles, and the yearly cost for
keeping them in repair is 800,0001. ; the departe-
mental roads cost 280,0001. ; and the village or
local roads cost 1,800,0001. a year, being at the
rate respectively of 331., 201., and 101., par mile,
The system of transport for goods and merchandise
in France by vans and waggons, is well organised.
At the common rate of travelling, or by the ordinary
waggons, the day's journey is reckoned about 25
miles, but lately an improved mode has been adopted
by which they can travel 50 miles a day, of course
at great additional expense ; the former costing not
more than 3d. a ton per mile, while the latter costs
42d. According to M. Charles Dupiu this mode
of conveying goods in France is chipper by one-
half than it is in Germany and Italy, and as com-
pared with England the advantage is still greater in
favour of France. Sir Henry Parnell reckons the
expense in England at Bd. a ton per mile, while in
France, by the quick vans it is not more than 44d.
and by the common conveyance on:y
more than one-third.

The whole length of canals in France is 2,300
miles, and the rivers afford about 5,500 miles of
uninterrupted navigation (not much more than
twice as much as one river in America—the Mis-
souri, which has a line of uninterrupted navigation
for 2,250 miles). On the great benefits conferred
on France by her navigable rivers, M. Berthault-
Ducreux makes these remarks :—" In studying.
history we find that the cities both in the Old and
the New World which have attained the greatest
prosperity were situated on rivers or outlets to the
i
sea, and if we look at France only n this point of
view, we find from statistical documents published
by the Government, that for nine cities with 50,000
inhabitants and upwards, there is not one that does
not in a great measure owe its power and prospe-
rity to this circumstance ; of fourteen cities con-
taining from 30,000 to 50,000, there are only four
that derived little benefit from it, and that of the
forty-five towns with a population of from 15,000
to 30,000, there are but thirteen that have not the
advantage of a communication with the sea.

SPAIN.

Letters from Victoria, of the .1911, state that Aburca, the
Bishop of Leon, as well as the Marquis de Viiledespina
and Gen. Uranque (who shot Col. Clarke and the Rifles
of the Legion at Andoain), have been recalled to justify
themselves respecting the occurrences at Estella; which
invitation, unless sure of triumphing in their turn, they
arc not likely to accept.

One of the prisoners taken at 0,-gaz, by the faction,
ransomed himself for 100,000 reals, after kris father and
brother had been killed in the action ; the other having no
raoney to give was shot on the 17th. His name was
Quentin Lopez; eight other Nationals, captured on the
same occasion, expected the same tate on the 21st, when
the time allowed for their redemption expired.
General Ayerber, reinforced by the brigade of Parra
and one battery of artillery, marched on the 20th with all
his forces, against Cabrera, and slept on the 223 at Mu-
niesa. Van Haien himself, with five battalions and seven
hundred horse of the reserve division, bad arriitcl cal the
19th at Teruel, and was on the 24th to appear with
Ayerbe before Segura, which Cabrera had fortified am;
accupied with three battalions, having two more at Fuca-
teferrata, two at Barrasina, and four or five more in the
vicinity. It is not yet known what part Cabrera will take
against his old enemy Maroto, nnr could he now march
to the assistance of the Pretender, being himself driven
into a corner.
In Catalonia the Queen's troops sufferedn n
aceltirr;kinotno
10th instant, by the factious effecting
an
the
small town of Pons, in the province of Lerida, by treachery,
through a house contiguous to the wail. The rebel
Chief Larete de Copons penetrated into the interior,
the National Guards and small garrison retreated to,
the church and defended themselves there heroi-
cally—even women and children fighting until assist..
ance arrived from Balaguer, which they joined, and thus
saved themselves. On the approach of this reinforcement
which was not half the strength of the rebels, the latter set
the town on fire, and burnt it to the ground. Thus Pons
exists no longer, being now converted into a heap of ruins.
The rebels were 5,000 men strong, and as u•aial asassina-
ted all the inhabitants, men, women, and children, that fell
into their hands. Tire retiring garrison had many difficul-
ties to contend with, and atter having 13 killed and 55
wounded, reached Agramont and Balaguer on she 19th,
dislodging Ros de Eroles and Perez Davila from their po-
sition. Baron de Meer's enemies make the most of this
untoward event, to •agravate their charges against hi;,
still there is no probability of his removal, nor of that of
General Alaix and Seuor Arrazola, from their ministerial
seats, although all three were so often said to have been ac-
tually displaced, and the latter is now severely censured for
having promoted a younger brother of his to a second clerk-
ship in the department of Grace and Justice, with a salary
of 2201., and for the removal of some precious objects from
the Museum of Natural History.

ST. PETERSBSRGH, AIARCIIIJ.---I infOTllled
you by my last letter, dated 12th alt., that the Emperor
Nicholas had ordered an exterminating war to be waged
against the Circassians ; to-day the Autocrat published an
ukase, by which he not only revokes the iromire made by
fot
form any
kind
his Government to grant certain immunitiesibu to the Rus-
siansnb esettlers d
under
rn
the
ee
mostco l colonies n ies o
severef
penalties,C i rca stsoi a
eh na es i'a• sendatnlodl y
tcii t
relinquishedsi d e 1 r e d
al al sl
of establishment in the country or
tmhaetasuthrees aerzearg
inTinhdeiscentitclo thither their
slaves.
hope of subjugating the Circassiana,
is now doing has no other object than that wo'eatini-o
in-
juring them as much as possible, and thereby deterring
other Caucasian tribes from following their example. In
this, however, Nicholas will be deceived, for all those
mountaineers hold the Russians in too great an
aversion to ever consent to undergo their yoke. TI
The Au
tocrat intends shortly to signalize his reign by a new
despotism. His predecessor, the Emperor Alexandra,c had
granted granted the free Lieonians, indiscriminately, the privilege
of. possessing land belonging to the Nobility. This con_
'
cession exciting the displeasure of Nicholas, he has 'Olpre-
vailed on several personages of the high Nobility of the
province to address to him a petition, in which they state
to him that the great estates must be impaired from being
in the hands of Commoners, and entreat his Testy to re-
medy an cell which may ultimately prove fatal to the coun-
try. Now we are in daily expeciation of an Ukase, re- ,
storing to the Livonian Nobility the privilege of posseseir,g
exclusively these great estates, and in virtue of which the
Commoners who now own them will be obliged, r;thin a
given time, to sell them to the Nobility.—Coninterce.
WHISKY AND WHISKY PUNCII.--" It is 1
difficult (say Mr. Croker in his ' Popular Songs of Ire-
land') to form a correct estimate of the quantity of whisky
punch which may be comfortably discussed at a sitting.
In the case of a gentleman whose life had been insured for
a large sum of money, the pajment at his death was re-
sisted by the Insurance Company, upon the plea that he
had caused his death by excessive drieking. The !natter
came to a legal trial, and among other witnesses examined
was one who swore that, for the last eighteen years of his
life he had been in the habit of taking every night
four-and-twenty tumblers of whisky-punch. ' itc..
collect yourself, Sir,' said the examining counsel.
' Four-and-twenty I you swear to that ; did you never
drink five and twenty ?" lam on my oath,' replied
the witness ; ' and I will swear no further, for I never
ii r, sortie
ladw.
keep count beyond the two dozen, though there's no saving
how many beyond it I might drink to make myself com.fort-
able ; but that's my stint.' It is not only difficult to decide
on the quantity to be taken at a sitting, but that which a
glass should hold. On one occasion, a ho,apn th a
itablet i
lady
who had rewarded a labourer for his exertionsiciuired t
with
admirable whisky, administered in a claret glass, was both
shocked and astonished at the impiety and ingratitude
his exclamation—' May the devil blow the m
this glass !" n
What is that you say ?'
' What do I bear ?" I'm much obliged to y(,11,1
a made the
Madam, and 'tis no harm I mean ; only bad 1 i
Ilijkriourabio
to the
blackguard glass-blower, whoever he was, el, 'e
lee, with time
least bit of breath in life more, he could have
glass twice as big.'
SUNFLOWER SEGARS.--.A 'Mr. Goodman, of
Marietta, Lancaster county, Pa., has taken
for a new kind of segars made from the out a patent
leaf Gf the sun-
flower. They are said to possess a pectorial virtue, in
coughs, colds, &c., and are pronounced
servers. The Lancaster Intellii)guetncthei s regular
ays
that.
a t.,1,F,_1
mnnaen yh
aother n ionbvieencttiionnns
whatever y fa il,
to see' it
e. proprietors of ; Is
end in 'aloha .
Pliiadelphia Ledyer.