The Sun.
London, England, 1863-02-26 00:00:00

we shall not characterise, must petition Parliament
to arrest the very remedy indispensable to the pub..
lie convenience—now that London has overgrown
itself above ground, and must seek relief below like
the wild ducks diving to avoid the breaking billow
towering over their devoted heads. What instinct
teaches the duck in the stormy water, reason ought
to suggest to the wayfarer in the crowded street.
But neither reason nor instinct avail with people
determined to be obstinate.

We have lying before us an excellent map of the
Metropolitan Railways, Bridges, Embankments,
&c., by Mr. STANFORD,* of Ordnance map celebrity
and other useful surveys, which displays the pro-
posed improvements in and about London with a
particularity and distinctness so arranged that he
who runs may read the picture of metropolitan im-
provement with an eye of wonder and admiration.
It exhibits not only the squares, parks, Royal and
metropolitan, but the streets in all their multitu-
dinous variety, stretching for miles on mites out of
town along the roads, till the metropolis loses itself
in sylvan scenes and alleys green. This map ex-
tends from Wanstead Park on the north-east to be-
yond Richmond on the south-west, and from Wein-
bly Park on the north-west to Sunderidge Park and
Etmatead 11/ ood on the south-east. Then coming
home to the focus of stirring life in the City and
West-end, we have on the broad face of London the
proposed railways and other plans brought before
Parliament for the present session, also the rail-
ways sanctioned and those in operation, all inter-
secting the great city over bridge or under
ground. The proposed embankments on either
side of the Thames aro broadly marked, with
other improvements, such as the Royal Arcade, pro-
posed to join Broad street and Regent-street, under
cover from sun and shade, which rears its mimic
head on the map. Altogether this map is London
itself covered with railway panoply, and will be
valuable for reference to men of business as well
as to visitors to the great Babylon of commercial

enterprise.
We have, besides, another map similar to Mr.
STANFORD'S, but more restricted in extent,
being rather a skeleton of London and the vicinity,
published by VACHER and Sons, j' of Parliament-
street, displaying no less than 24 of the several
lines for which several bills have been deposited
for the present session. Several of these proposed
lines run into the very heart of business localities
from remote districts, and promise when executed
to shorten both time and space within a span as
it were, bringing the vast circumference to the
very centre of a radiating circle. Surely there can
be no legitimate or well-founded objection to men
of business being brought nearer to the places of
their several avocations. Perhaps those living in
the thoroughfares above ground may apprehend
some loss of custom from the passers-by choosing
the lower line of ingress and egress, but that is a
trivial consideration when weighed with the general
advantage. We can understand that the proprietors
of omnibuses and other conveyances may have ob-
jections to any improvement tending to interfere
with their monopoly; but the universal public re-
quire more space to allow the daily-increasing traf-
fic freer scope ; and if any real damage be done, let
there be just and prompt compensation awarded.
Perhaps, as speculation may have run riot in this
as in every other obvious improvement, it were well
that a comprehensive scheme were submitted to a
competent tribunal, so that one proposition might
not be permitted to run counter to the other from a
spirit of jealousy and rivalry. What is for the bene-
fit of all should not be allowed for the advantage of
any particular party, because it will militate, like
all monopoly, against the public interest.

• Stanford's Map of Metropolitan Railways, Bridges,
Embankments, &0., including the proposed railway and
other plans brought before Parliament for session 1863 ;
also the railways sanctioned and in operation. By Edward
Stanford, 6, Charing-cross, 23d February, 1863.
tVacher and Sons' Parliamentary Map of the Metropoli-
tan Railways, showing the lines in existence and in pro -
gress, and all the proposed railways for which bills have
been deposited for Session 1863. Published by Vacher and
Sons, 29, Parliament-street, S.W., and Letts, Son, and Co.,
8, Royal-exchange, E.C. Price 2s. 6d. Lithographed on
a large sheet,

The ceremony of the Levee, held yesterday by
his Royal Highness the Prince of WALES, was not
without en interest, seldom attaching to mere Court
ceremonies or forms of etiquette. It was the first
occasion on which the Prince of WALES had ap-
peared before his future subjects in that position
of dignity and authority which, for the future,
belongs to the youthful heir to the Throne. It
was also the first Levee held for two seasons, owing
to the bereavement of her MAJESTY, and it was
felt to be an inauguration of that happier and brighter
time which her MAJESTY'S loyal subjects earnestly
trust to be in store for her and her illustrious family.
It was an opportunity of testifying that ready
loyalty towards the young Prince which, for his
parent's sake as well as his own, all classes of Eng-
lishmen are so ready to accord to him, and the
eagerness with which the opportunity was seized
showed the general desire to do honour to the
youthful Heir apparent, in whom, at the
present moment especially, the public feel so
warm an interest. The commands of her MAJESTY
placed the PRINCE for the time being in her place,
and it was felt that paying homage to the son was
the best way to afford gratification to his Royal
mother. The consequence was, that the number
of presentations yesterday exceeded those on any
occasion since her MAJESTY'S accession, while the
throngs of spectators in the parks received the
PRINCE with a cordial enthusiasm that he
must have found most gratifying. The feel-
ings with which the nation watches the carper
of the eldest son of ALBERT and VICTORIA
are as different from the national sentiments towards
our last Prince of WALES as, we trust, their careers
will be distinct and oppoeite. Our present PRINCE
is entering life under the fairest auspices—shadowed,
it is true, by the memory of his recent loss of the
counsellor whose interest in his welfare was the
deepest and sincerest. He has but to fulfil
the expectations we have formed of him—to be
worthy of his parents and of his people, and the
throne of England will still remain unshaken by
the convulsions of neighbouring States—a position
whose security despots may look upon with envy,
ant democrats with unwilling admiration.

MERCHANT SEAMEN'S ORPHAN ASYLUM, SNARES-
BROOK.—The Elder Brethren of the hon. corpora- .
tion of the Trinity-house have signified their intention of
presenting to each boy and girl in this institution a silver
medal, in commemoration of the marriage of his Royal
Highness the Prince of Wales. The medals will each be
appended to a rosette, in order that they may be worn by
the children on the 10th of March.
MARRIAGE BY TELEGRAPH.—The American
papers assert that a lady in Syracuse has been mar-
ried to a soldier in a fort near Washington, the two being
400 miles apart, and the vows spoken by telegraph :—" Its
took two hours to do the work up complete, and the tele-
gram from the chaplain to the lady announcing that she
and the soldier were man and wife is the bride's marriage
certificate."
ENGLISH NEWS VIA SOUTH AFRICA.—In the Cape
Argus of the 6th ult. we find the following :—" It is
stated that the Queen of England has just published a book
in which she examines with deep criticism sundry of the
religious questions which are now prominent in the Chris-
tian world, and that the views of her Majesty accord
greatly with those of Bishop Colenso. It would appear
from a notice in one of the Natal papers that the book has
been received there, but the wording of the notice is not
very dear,"