The Sun.
London, England, 1839-05-31 00:00:00

Harmer
Laineon

Ashurst
Baylis
Beckwith
Bennett, P.
Blacket, Deputy
Bonsor
Brass
Brown, B. E.
Carr
Charles
Christie
Curtis
Edwards, G. W.
French, J. 31.
Frodsham
Galloway
Ganthony
Gibbs, D.
Gilbert, P. P.
G oodridge
Hall, T. H.
Heppel, G. H.
Hickson
Hoard
Paired off—Sir

MANCHESTER and BIRMINGHAM

EXTENSION RAILWAY.

THURSDAY.

The Committee on this Bill met to_day at twelve o'clock.
Counsel on behalf of the promoters of the Bill were
heard against the London and Birmingham Railway
Company being admitted to appear before the Committee
by their counsel and witnesses against the Bill—that
Company claiming the right so to appear as a competing
line to the intended Extension Railway.
The case was argued at great length on the part both
of the promoters and of the London and Birmingham
Railway ; after which 'the room was cleared, and the
Committee divided on the motion—" That the London
and Birmingham be not heard as parties upon their
petition;" which motion was carried in the affirmative.
And thus the London and Birmingham Railway Company
are excluded from the Committee.

METROPOLITAN POLITICAL

SUMMARY,

The Morning Chronicle of this day thus ridicules the
nervous apprehensions of the Standard respecting the
mischiefs likely to accrue to the agriculturists from the
la county franchise :—" The Tories are taking fright at
the notion of a 101. county franchise. The Standard
has discovered that if is full of danger to agrieiulture,
Aristocracy, and the Church. It is a sad thing to be
born with a timorous organization. The mother of Hobbes
took fright at the approach of the Spanish Armada; and
hence the despotic theories of the philosopher of Malmes-
bury. The mother of the Standard took fright, we sup-
pose, at the Reform plan of Earl Grey in 1797 ; and hence
the horror of our Contemporary at an extended suffrage
and more popular representation. Let him take heart of
grace. For many a generation to come Aristocracy will
be able to take care of itself in England. The spirit of
Aristocracy pervades all ranks."
The Morning Advertiser comments as follows on the
rejection of the proposed Address to her Majesty by the
Court of Common Council yesterday :—" The opposition
to the Address was successful not so much in conse-
quence of a dissent from the opinions it embraced, or
the principles it inculcated, as from the wish to inflict
some implied censure on Ministers for conceding so
much as they have done to Tory predilections. In such
light the defeat of the Address may be regarded as a
condemnation, rather than a triumph, of Tory princi-
ples ; but it is nevertheless painful to see Reformers give
an apparent victory to their enemies, from the compare-
tvelypaltry motive of personal animosity or local retribu -

ion."

The Morning Post, as a matter of course, has great
doubts whether the Penny Postage scheme will ever be
carried into execution. " They who expect," says our
Contemporary, " that Ministers will proceed vigorously to
reduce the proposed Reform to a Parliamentary measure,
and to carry that measure into effect, providing at the same
time for any defalcation in the revenue which it may occa-
sion, are, we fear, doomed to be disappointed."
The Morning Herald is quite delighted with the result
of the proceedings in the Court of Common Council yes-
terday, and observes:—" The Whigs must feel that the
days of their official existence are numbered. Their stock
of trickery and of mean frauds is nearly exhausted. We
trust that they may be expelled from the Councils of the
Queen, before they shall have subjected their innocent
Sovereign to any large portion of that unpopularity, which
is destined to be their own portion so long as their name
shall be remembered."

The Times speaks of the proposed Ministerial Pott-
offiee Reform in the following liberal and judicious
manner :—" It has lyzen announced, in a manner which is
received as official, that Mr. Spring Rice is prepared to'
accede to the universal wish of the country in the adoption
of an uniform penny postage, payable in advance, according
to the plan recommended by Mr. Rowland Hill. We have
all along advocated this plan, from the first publication of
the evidence taken before the Committee of the House of
Commons, because we therein found a clear demonstration of
such evils inflicted by the old system as no argument drown
from expediency could justify ; and because, further, it
was equally certain that an immense benefit to the whole
community must result from the measure recommended.

Into such questions it would be utterly repugnant to
reason and common sense to allow party feeling for a mo-
ment to enter, and our conviction is, that whatever Ministry
had been in power, it was impossible for them to resist
such an appeal, or to delay acting upon it a momen.
longer than the time re quired for the new mechanicii.
and fiscal regulations called for by so entire a change of
system. Tliat the experiment will not only cause
no loss, but be attended in a few years by a great in-
crease of revenue, we entertain not the slightest doubt;
but were it otherwise, the argument should not be ad-
mitted, for, as has been repeatedly declared, the Post-
office was established solely for the public convenience, and
that revenue is an accident and not a consequent' of the
department. Altogether we regard this Pest-office inquiry
as one conducted with more honesty and more industry
than any ever brought before a Committee of the House of
Commons. A public meeting had been appointed for the
31st (to-day) on this subject, which is postponed, but the
intention of holding one is not absolutely abandoned, until
all uncertainty as to the views of the Ministry is removed."
The Globe of last evening, speaking of the new Jamaica
Bill about to be brought into the House of Commons by
Mr. Laboucherc, says—" That the Bill which the Go-
vernment has been compelled to abandon was necessary in
the unprecedented state of society in that colony, we still
think ; and fear that those who combined their force, al-
though wide as the poles asunder in their general views of
government, to resist the enactmeat of that Bill, will find
that a less stringent measure will fail to effect a cute for
the evils which threaten the. inhabitants, and those whose
property i 3 embarked in Jamaica. Still it becomes the
duty of Ministers to do what they can to mitigate—seeing
the combination to which we have alluded will not allow
them to do what they would to remedy—the mischiefs
which prevail in the colony. They have sufficiently ex-
pressed their opinion and vindicated their consistency.
It will be seen whether the less decided course which has
been forced upon them will be sufficient to tranquillise tho
conflicting elements, to restore (mkt-, and ensure the ad-
ministration of impartial justice to all classes in the island."
The Courier observes, in reference to the intended Go-
vernment measure founded on Mr. MIN Penny Postage
plan We know that the draft of the Bill has already
been perused in Liberal quarters where criticism was most
likely to be severe, and where objections would certainly
hare been raised had the plan contained any objectionable
principle ; but that it excited nothing but approbation and
sanguine hopes of success."
The Standard endeavours to rouse.tbe prejudices of the
agricultural classes against Government in the following
terms :—" We must call the attention of the agricul-
tural body to a serious danger with which it is threa-
tened. The farmers of the empire are to be offered
up as the first victims to the re-union of the Minis-
terialists and Radicals. A Ministerial Journal of last
night announces, almost directly, that a project is
& franchise upon 101. house-
on foot to confer the county
holders. As the number of 10/. householders (not being
freeholders) who arc engaged in agriculture is so small as
t' be properly rejected front callee.ulilsaettot,ritlttiasepargojreictict
agriculturists
suroisnies
for transferring time county franchise ,
to the shopkeepers and others unconnected with agricul-
ture, who make up the population of country towns : and
should it take effect the agricultural body will be no longer
represented."

ELEVEN LIVES LOST.—An accident of a most
,ppollinz description took place on Monday afternoon in
the colliery of Messrs. Braine and Co., at King,swood,
near Bristol, by which eleven unfortunate tnen and kal)s
have been hurried into eternity, their depc-micnt families
deprived of their means of sustenance, and the Whole vil-
lage thrown into a state of consternation ana sorrow.