The Sun.
London, England, 1865-03-07 00:00:00

abroad are brought there they can come no further
than Gravesend ; they must come from there in
small steamers, and when landed at the Arse-
nal they are still two miles from the hospital. It
-would certainly seem as if the genius of
contrariety had presided over this building,
from first to last, and achieved a complete success in
rt.mdering it as uncomfortable and inconvenient as
possible. The regimental hospital at Hounslow is
also, what Lord DALHOUSIE very appropriately
calls the " glass and glare " principle. Indeed, so
oppressive was the light, that the first regiment to
whom th... 3 hospital was handed over had the lower
panes pain ted a dark green. The noble lord gave
very sound advice when he proposed that the Secre-
tary of State for War should call in the medical
officers of the am ky, and thus obtain the best advice
in a practical fon n. He might then be successful
in erecting " Hospitals that would not be mere
temples of the sun, and barracks that
would not be mere temples of the wind."
Lord DE GREY defended the " glass and glare sys-
tem," which he more respectfully called the " pavi-
lion plan," from the attacks made upon it by the
noble lord in his comprehensive speech. He said
that the Royal Sanitary Commission, of which the
late Lord HERBERT was the head, approved of this
plan. This seems very strange ; but if these emi-
nent individuals made a mistake, it seems hard that
unfortunate patients should suffer from it to please
those who prefer or persist in a system, right
or wrong. It is unsatisfactory to hear from Lord
DE GREY that this new hospital at Woolwich is to
be a general hospital. It is a great pity that more
care and consideration are not taken when such
sums of money are spent, and what is still of
more consequence, the health and comfort
of our troops endangered. It seems of no use to
mention the errors that creep into the system of
official management, for the more that is said
against a particular plan the more strongly do the
Government uphold it. Lord ELLENBOROUGII de-
clared with great justice that the Secretary of State
for War should have taken the whole responsibility
of the erection of this hospital, and he could not
believe " but that if any Secretary of State
for War had looked into the details of
the plans they would not possibly have been
adopted." The Duke of CAMBRIDGE said that they
could only judge of the hospital at Woolwich when
it was occupied, but then it will be too late to
remedy the mischief, which is now so properly com-
plained of, and to rectify the errors that those who
should be the first to admit them chose to deny.

The extension of the railway lines throughout
;he metropolis has given rise to a very import=

discussion on a matter which concerns us all more

or less, since none can say where the ever-growing
iron lines will stop, or what route they may select

or their course. It is an instance in which a great

public convenience occasions a vast amount of
private inconvenience—so vast, indeed, that it be-
comes a public question. By a very just rule, the
railway companies are bound to give material
compensation to the owners of the property they
destroy ; and indeed they are unable to proceed
with their undertaking until the matter is defi-

nitely arranged. If they refuse to give adequate
compensation for the damage inflicted, the suf-
ferer can appeal to the courts of law to settle
the dispute. By this means a wholesome check is
put upon the torrent of speculation which other-
wise would be inclined to sweep all before it, with-
out any regard to the injury, inconvenience, or
annoyance which it might occasion. A good many
citizens of London have had cause to be thankful

for this provision of the statute during the last few
years, but sometimes even a round sum of money
will not atone for the loss or injury resulting from
a compulsory removal. A new point has now been
raised, however, which is of vast importance to the
commercial classes of this country, and which we
are not surprised to find many traders actively dis-
cussing. It appears, from the decision of three out
of five judges in the Exchequer Chamber, "that if
a railway company, in constructing their railway,
block up a thoroughfare leading to a shop, so as to
occasion loss to a shopkeeper in his business, by
preventing the passing of customers to his shop, the

loss of business is not the subject of compensation"
within the terms of the act. If so, this is a grievance
which calls immediately for redress, and it is a
pity that the learned judges could not take into
consideration the equity as well as the law of the
case. Two of the five judges present, Justices
BYLES and KEATING, dissented from the construc-
tion put upon the act by their learned brothers,
and the common sense of the community will un-
doubtedly endorse the sense and justice of their
decision. The case of a tradesman ruined by the
virtual stoppage of his business, is thus much
harder than his who suffers from compulsory re-
moval, since in the one case he has the monetary
compensation for his loss, while in the other the
victim sees his business destroyed without any
compensation, and if he thinks it necessary to
remove he does so at his own expense. So many
metropolitan lines are now in course of construction,
and so many more are under consideration, that this
is not a matter of mere class or local interest, but it

concerns a very large proportion of our commercial
men. In the City especially the iron highway is
rapidly extending its lines, and is threatening with
temporary suspension, if not with total destruction,
the ordinary traffic of some of our busy thorough-
fares. Every business man knows the damage done
by a sudden suspension of trade or even by an un-
timely removal ; and while private interests cannot
be suffered to stand in the way of the public advan-
tage, neither should they be entirely overlooked for
the benefit of railway companies, which are likely,
in the metropolis, at all events, to make ample pro-
fits. Improvements cannot stand still to suit the
convenience of individuals, who must " step aside
out of the light ;" but they have a right to demand
a fair inquiry into their grievances, and a just con-
sideration for their losses. If such compensation
were a recognised preliminary to metropolitan
works, it would be thought no hardship by the pro-
jectors ; but so long as there is a loophole for escape
they will naturally endeavour to avail themselves of
it. The eagerness to construct these lines is so
great that there would be no fear of a slight addi-
• tional expense checking their progress ; and we
therefore hope that the House of Lords, when ap-
pealed to, will reverse the decision of the Exchequer
Judges, or if not, that some measure may be imme-
diately submitted to Parliament with a view to the
remedy of a glaring injustice.

On the 4th instant the Minister of Portugal—the
Count de Lavradio—and Mr. Gerald Ralson, the
Consul-General of Liberia, signed, on behalf of their re-
spective Governments, a treaty of amity, commerce, and
navigation, at the legation of Portugal in London. It is
noteworthy that one of the articles of this treaty assimilates
slave-trade to piracy, and condemns its guilty perpetrators
to the same punishment as would be inflicted on pirates.
It is most desirable that in all future treaties which the
negro republic may make with other nations this
grand principle should be recognised and established, as
has just been done with Portugal, and was previously
effected with the negro republic of Haiti, so that the inter-
national law of the civilised peoples of the world should be
enriched by this important addition to their codes. It is to
the high honour of the Count de Lavradio that ho should
be the first European diplomatists to introduce this impor-
tant principle into international law.