The Sun.
London, England, 1837-02-25 00:00:00

ber for Bridport to say if he had alluded to him on the occa-
sion referred to.
Mr. WARBURTON was understood to say he had not
mentioned the name of the Hon. Member for Kilkenny, in
connection with the Deptford and Dover Railway.
WHITBY AND PICKERING RAILWAY.
On the motion of Mr. W. DUNCOMBE, the Whitby and
Pickering Railway was read a second time and ordered to be
committed.
Mr. E. DENISON brought up the report of the Commit-
tee on the Birmingham Plate and Crown Glass Company, and
some other reports. The Hon. Member then presented a pe-
tition from the North Midland Railway Company against the
South Union Railway.
Sir OSWALD MOSLEY presented three petitions in
favour of the South Union Railway.
Mr. FOSTER presented a petition from Walsall to the
same effect.
MANCHESTER AND CHESHIRE RAILWAY BILL.
On the motion of Mr. B. WILBRAHAM, this Bill was
read a first time, and ordered to be read a second time to-
morrow.
Mr. HINDLEY presented a petition from Newcastle-under-
Line, in favour of the South Union Railway Bill.
Mr. THORNELY presented a petition from a place in
Staffordshire in favour of the Manchester, Cheshire, and Staf-
ford Railway Bill.
On the motion of Mr. TENNYSON D'EYNCOURT,
the Licensed Victuallers' Assurance Company Bill was read a
second time, and ordered to be committed.
SOUTH UNION RAILWAY.
Mr. I. J. BLACKBURN presented a petition from War-
rington in favour of the South Union Railway.
SOUTH MIDLAND COUNTIES RAILWAY BILL.
Sir R. FERGUSON presented a petition from the Corpo-
ration of Nottingham, in favour of this Bill.
LANCASTER AND PRESTON RAILWAY.
On the motion of Lord STANLEY, this' Bill was read a
second time.
The same NOBLE LORD presented two petitions against the
South Union Railway Bill.
SOUTH UNION RAILWAY.
Lord F.. EGERTON moved the second reading of this

Bill; upon which
Lord STANLEY said he was unwilling to take up the time
of the House, and it was extremely desirable that those ques-
tions which were capable of being discussed and decided before
a Committee, should be so determined upon, rather than before
the House itself. The House was aware that not only had
it been his anxious desire, but the de#ire of the two great
Companies who opposed this Bill, to abstain from of-
fering any opposition on the second reading, had they not
found that according to the rules and practice of the House it
was absolutely impossible for them in any other wad to insist on
that principle which they felt it necessary to do for the protection
of their own right'. As this was a matter of great importance,
he would ask for a short time the patience of the House, while
he stated plainly the reasons on which he asked them to post-
pone the second reading of this Bill. The House was aware,
that after the great and successful experiment in railways
between Manchester and Liverpool, a plan was formed of un-
paralleled importance, and of great risk and difficulty, to
communicate those two great towns with Birmingham and
the Metropolis, by means of one contined line of railroad.
He thought he did not state too much when he ventured to say,
that if the Company had not proposed to carry their line through
Birmingham, that the project would have been thrown aside
by the House and the public, as unworthy of general support.
The House was pleased to sanction the line from Birmingham
to London, and from Birmingham to Liverpool, as the great
connecting communication between the North and South of
England. In the course of last year objections were taken to
it, and it was contended that Manchester should have a shorter
communication than that afforded by the line adopted. The
Liverpool and Manchester Railway, about half its distance,
was met at right angles by the line of communication
between Birmingham and Liverpool. It would be observed
that that was not the most direct route to Manchester, but
there were natural obstacles in the way which rendered the
junction at the angle described absolutely necessary, as far as
Liverpool was concerned . but it was not so with regard to
Manchester, and the people of Manchester asked why they
should bo obliged to go a round of fifteen or twenty miles,
on their way to London, when by cutting it off they could
save a considerable distance in the journey. There was no-
thing in his opinion more reasonable than such a proposition,
and in the course of last year two Companies were formed
having the same object in view, and their relative merits
were discussed before Committees of the House of Com-
mons and of the Lords, at an expense exceeding .50,0001.
They were, however, both unsuccessful—one of them, the
South Union, proposed to run their line through Stockport,
Burton, Derby, &c., thus affording means of improvement to
those important towns. In the course of the year both Com-
panies found that their respective lines were not the best,
and both agreed upon a line nearly similar, which would
have almost the same termini, and for a great distance run
parallel with the Grand Junction and the London and Bir-
mingham Railway. If they were confined to such objects
there would be no objection to the second reading of the Bill
before the House. These two lines fell into the Liverpool and

Birmingham line.
[The Noble Lord was hero interrupted by Sir Augustus
Clifford, the Usher of the Black Rod, who appeared at the
table, and summoned the House to the House of Lords, to
hear the Royal Assent given by Commission to certain
Tho Speaker, attended by several Members, immediately
quitted the House for that purpose.)
The SPE AKE R upon his return informed the House that
he had been to the House of Lords to hear the Royal Assent
given to certain Bills, for which see our Lords' report.
Lord STANLEY then resumed. He had been inter-
rupted in the observations he had been making to the House,
at a time when it was as convenient as possible that
he should be ; for he had just arrived at what he
might call a sort of half-way house.—( Hear.) He
had just got to that point with regard to so much of the
line as shortened the distance between Stone and Stafford,
to which no objection was taken by the parties whose cause he
appeared to advocate. He now came to that part to which they
did object, and which he thought the House was called upon
in justice to object to also. It was true that between Stone
and Stafford, and from thence to Rugely, as the great leading
line between Liverpool and London did not take the most
direct course, it was in the power of the promoters of the Bill to
take another, and by which a distance of seven miles out of nine
would have been saved—namely, that of taking it through the
towns of Wolverhampton, Birmingham, and Coventry ; but if
the line as now proposed had been brought forward before
the Act passed, the sanction of Parliament would not have
been obtained to the Bill.—( Hear.) He did not state
this from supposition, but from facts; for \at the time
these railroads were in contemplation, meetings were held in
Birmingham and the neighbouring country, at which they
called upon the Liverpool Railroad Company, who at that
time had it in their intention to carry this line through, in the
manner now proposed—they called upon them that the line
' should pass through Wolverhampton, Birmingham, and Co-
ventry. and that it should not take the line now proposed
to be taken. That was the course which it was stated these
Companies promised to pursue when the matter was
before Parliament, before it would give its sanction to the
measure.—(Hear.) Now what had these Companies done in
fulfilment of that promise ? In the first place, he would call the
attention of the House to the great outlay of money that had
taken place for the communication between London, Man-
chester, and Liverpool. There had been already an outlay
amounting to nearly eight millions pounds of money. From
these eight millions, with the exception of 1,200,000/.
sunk in the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, not a single
farthing of profit had been derived up to the present moment.
This money had been advanced on the faith of the British
Parliament, that this should be the main line between London
and Liverpool. The estimate has been much exceeded.
( Hear, hear.) In the London and Birmingham Railway,
the original estimate was 2,500,0001.—the actual expenditure
up to the time he spoke was 2,400,000/., and the present
estimate was 2,000,000/. more. The estimate for the Grand
Junction, independently of the portion between Warrington
and Newton, and the million and a half already expended be-
tween Liverpool and Manchester—the original estimate was
1,0-10,0001.—the estimate now exceeded 1,500,000/. Conse-
quently the whole of these estimates amounted already
to the sum of 8,000,000/., which had been incurred on
the faith of a British Parliament—that this lino should
be the great track between London, Birmingham, and
Liverpool. Not only is as the faith of Parliament pledged, but the
passing of the Act justified this expenditure on the part of the
public, because they refused to pass the Act until it was
proved that a certain amount of passengers and traffic might
be expected to pass along the line for a certain distance.
They refused to sanction the Bill till this was proved—they
made it a condition on which the scheme should go forth, in
order to prove it was not a bubble scheme, but one in which
people might fairly invest their property, because it was in-
vested upon the faith of Parliament. If, after this 'enormous
outlay, for the mere saving of nine miles in a distance of 200, it
was proposed to incur an additional expense amounting to
2,000,000/. more, another Act were allowed to be introduced
which might possibly take away a traffic from the original
Company of a line of sixty miles out of two hundred, or rather
out of one hundred and fifty, he did say that it would be a
gross injustice to the parties interested in the original Bill.
If, after sanctioning this longer line, and having compelled the
parties to undertake it at a great expense, they were to allow
another party to step in, and making a line at a little expense,
from the long distance, to cut off a short angle, and which line
would never have been thought of but for the original line, from
which, however, it must cut off a great part of the profit and
price of their exertions and capital and outlay, he must say
it really was ludicrous—it was one of the strongest cases
that could come before Parliament.—( Hear, bear.) But did
this new line pass through a very populous district, and through
very important towns? It passed through districts which were
entirely agricultural—it passed, certainly, near some large
towns—( Sir Robert Peel—lt passes through Tamworth.) He
would come to Tamworth presently—( A laugh)—he was now
dealing with the case between Stone and Rugely ; and in the
first place, it passed through the valley of the Trent, where
there was no town of any importance. He had the very
greatest respect for the constituency of Tamworth.—( A laugh. )
They had done themselves very great honour by returning his
Right Hon. Friend, but he did not think they ought to
satisfy themselves with that honour merely—( Laughter)—
and not seek to derive a due share of profit. He was much mis-
taken if Tarnworth had been represented by a person of less influ-
ence, of less importance, and of less high station in that House,
whether the South Union would have seen so strong a rea-
son for passing the line through Tamworth.—( Hear, hear, and
laughter.) The object, it was said, was to save nine miles.
amworth was now to supersede Birmingham. Formerly it
was stated that Birmingham was the centre of the great
communications with the Metropolis ; but now the
communication was not to pass through Birmingham,
but Tamworth was to be the centre through which all the