The Sun.
London, England, 1839-03-08 00:00:00

The subject of Railways excites a great deal o
public attention, and was last night alluded to ir.
both Houses of Parliament. At Mr. HARVEY'S
notice of a motion we can only rejoice, as we think it
most desirable to have all private interests and mo-
tives laid bare, by which the individuals, if disposed
to act unfairly, may be shamed into honesty. Lord
BROUGHAM'S notice does not give us equal satis-
faction. We find no fault indeed with the Noble
Lord, for, though we differ from him, we are so
sensible of the magnitude and novelty of the ques-
tion—so well convinced that he agrees with what in
general we consider the right principle, that of
non-interference by the Government in private busi-
ness, that his views rather make us diffident of than
confident in our own. Nevertheless, having for a
considerable number of years advocated the prin-
ciple of Government laying down a general plan.
of railways, and having been taught by recent expe-
rience that the immense power and monopoly con-
ferred by railways cannot be safely entrusted to
individuals, we have gradually extended our views,
and are prepared to advocate. the principle that
Government should undertake to construct as well
as plan them. We purpose, as briefly as we can,
to lay our ideas on this subject before our readers ;
but we must 'first say, that however strong our
own convictions, we cannot join the Chio-
nide in attributing improper motives to the
Liberal English Members who voted against
Lord MORPETH'S resolution. When our Contem-
porary ascribes to Sir En. L. BULWER, and other
Liberal Members, a disposition to deny justice to
Ireland, because they are not immediately convinced
of the propriety of voting money for construct-
ing railways, our Contemporary does an injustice
to them and displays much more zeal than discre-
tion. We differ from Sir En. BULWER and those
who voted with him, but we have observed his and
their political conduct long enough to believe that
on such a question their minds were honestly made
up, and their votes patriotically, even if mistakenly,
given. On this complicated and novel subject men
may well form different opinions without being liable
to any of the vulgar clap"-trap accusations of party.
We call this a novel subject because railroeds,
from their immense advantages compa:ed to other
means of communication, and they arc not yet half
known, will necessarily be the only means of com-
munication in the country till something, wetter be
found out, and because the expense of making and
keeping them up, together with the facilities one of
them supplies for sending both vast quantities of
goods and a great number of passengers, will render
it impracticable and inadvisable in the great ma-
jority of cases to have competing lines. in their
nature, therefore, they must be monopolies.
Already the coaches have ceased to run
on parallel roads where they have been established ;
and the peer and the peasant, the millionnaire and
the mercantile traveller, the princess, and the
waiting woman going to a new service, all travel by
the railroad, because it is the swiftest and the
cheapest conveyance. The peer can have nothing,
better, the humblest traveller is capable of pur-
chasing its use. On the river, on the King's
high-road, ships and coaches can run, and can pass
by each other ; but on the rail each carriage is fast-
ened, it cannot diverge from it, and it can pass by
no other carriage. As the vast extension of ma-
chinery has made clothing cheap, we have become
all nearly dressed alike, so railways are another
element in the same democratic progress, and as
they come into use we must all travel alike. Thus
necessarily of uni.versal use, and by nature a
monopoly, such as we believe has never before
existed, they seem to us to require for the protec-
tion of the community that they should be placed
in the hands of that Government which is respon-
sible to the community.
We made a few remarks on Wednesday to show
that from our Government having always been car-
ried on to promote the purposes of a faction, and
to coerce the people not to promote their welfare,
all its operations were looked on with suspicion
and all power denied it which can be withheld.
Being sensible of that, we ask those who contend
that Government should not undertake the promo-
tion and management of a general system of rail-
ways, they being monopolies of such vast utility,
what in the name of reason is the Government fit
for? Its bad character must not, however, make us
deny its attributes. It is a costly, even a ruinous
contrivance, and if it cannot be entrusted to make
railways the sooner it is got rid of the hater. For
railways, to be advantageous, they must not
only supersede other modes of travelling,
but they must converge to a centre, and
must radiate throughout all the land. They re-
quire to be laid down with a view to the general
advantage, and the principles on which they ought
to be constructed are not the common principles of
profit and loss, from which their own nature ex-
cludes them, but the flats and levels, or engineering
properties of the whole country. They require to
be placed under one system of management, which
shall adjust the times of arrivals and departures to
one another. The power that is capable of carry.
ing them into execution must be, whatever it
be called, a great ruling or controuling power,
and to make it a Company or Companies, is to
substitute irresponsible masters for a Government,
which is or ought to be, the responsible servant of
the community. Long have we been convinced,
that a general scheme of railways planned by Go-
vernment, is as much demanded in England as in
Ireland, and as the Government has made a step in
surveying and laving down a plan for Ireland, it
ought to act on the same principle in England.
Some men will undoubtedly say--a-and we will
not deny that there is some foundation for the asser-
tion—that we ought first to make the Government
completely and properly responsible. Unless that Brussels,
be done, it will, as in past times, corrupt and per. last night. In a letter from Brussels, which appears
vert, as in the case of the Post-office, the most use- in a Hamburgh paper, an instance is given of the
ful contrivance to bad purposes. To meet that view, change of German, and Dutch papers were received
popular opinion recently observable in the
however, as we have no hope of immediately getting Belgian
capital. Accordion to the writer a revolu-
such a Government, we should venture to suggest
tionary song was loudl called for at the Park The_
that both in Ireland and in England a general sys-
y
sire, Brussels. The Manager came forward and
tern
of railways, planned by Government, to be informed the audience that the
Government had
executed lay its authority, and to be managed by it, piohibited the singing of that song, whell, strange
should be placed under the exclusive controul of to say, not a voice was raised in condemnation of
Pailiamentary Commissioners, responsible to the the prohibition. Had this occurred two months
people through their representatives, and subject, ago the audience would have pulled down the build-
on good cause shown, to be removed by a vote of
heatre. The
eig, and sung the song in a body over the 1.1;11S.
Parliament. To have a check on its central Oa the 25th ult. the King of PRUSSIA was so
power, local superintendents might be chosen recovered as to be able to attend the T
the inhabitants of the localities, through which new law relative to mixed marriages was then ex-
HANOVER,
the railroads were to pass, so that the whole ma- pected to be published in the course of a few days,
nagement and controul should be in. the hands of We subjoin the latest news from Hanover ;e-e"
those who should be locally and generally responsi- FEB. 27.—An Ppproaching ilissohatia4 of