The Sun.
London, England, 1854-12-21 00:00:00

GRAND TRUNK RAILWAY.

(From the Quebec Mercury of Nov. 30.)
The Quebec and Richmond branch of the Grand Trunk
Railroad is now opened to the public, and is in every
respect un fait accompli, as briefly announced in our
last. Quebec is now placed in direct and speedy com-
munication during the whole course of the year with her
sister cities both in Canada and in the neighbouring
States.
The first public train ever run on the line left
South Quebec station on Monday morning at nine
o'clock, and proceeded with passengers and mails
en route to Richmond, there to meet the trains
running north and south between Portland
and Montreal. We had been favoured with an invitation
to accompany Sir Cusack Roney and the officers of the
company on this initiatory trip, and right gladly availed
ourselves of the same. In spite of occasional thick snow
storms we dashed along in glorious style through cut-
ting, clearing, bush and forest till we reached Richmond.
There we arrived at one o'clock, having made the run in
four hours, including stoppages at the Chaudire' Kelly's,
Black River, Methot's, Becancour, Somerset, Stanfold,
Nieolet, Harvey's, and Danville stations, ten in number,
at which m'iil bags are exchanged every day trip, the mail
conductors accompanying-the cars. Though the track is not
ballasted for about ten miles, the drive was roost agreeable
throughout. Among the party were Mr. Reekie, agent
of the contractors, Mr. Martin, superintendent of
line, and Mr. Maenzie superintendent of the motive
power on the Quebec and Richmond district, nephew to
the celebrated civil engineer of that name in Britain ;
to all these gentlemen we are indebted for information.
We were permitted on request to accompany the engi-
neers on the locomotive itself during a part of the
journey, a position that we would by no means recom-
mend to the timid excursionist, who could not
but participate in the thrills or horror which we every
now and then experienced at the dep:orable recklessness
of our still unenlightened country people as they walked
along the track in many places, and, notwithstanding
the timely warning notes of bell and whistle, obstinately
held their ground till they were all but reached by the
bounding train. However such carelessness may merit
punishment, God forbid that the people should perse-
vere in this practice till warned by the sad lessons else-
where too often told of wherever the iron track is laid !
Besides being enlightened as to the power and peculiari-
ties of an English engine, we witnessed satisfactorily
from this proximate point of observation the
readiness with which all its movements can be con-
trolled. Having, however, previously determined
to extend our stroll southward from Richmond, the
diversion gave us an opportunity of a most charming
moonlight drive, down the very banks of the St.
Francis, on the return the same evening, upon a loco-
motive of American construction, one of great power,
which, to our eye, had many advantages over the Bir-
kenhead engine that conveyed the first Quebec train
westward. It possessed the improvements of its English
companion, and had others of native origin, we presume,
the chief of which is its being on eight wheels, the
four front ones forming an independent carriage from
those in rear, so as to permit of the locomotives work-
ing with greater freedom, and causing it to jar less
than if too solidly connected front and rear, especially
in running round a curve. Space is not given—us to
extend as we would into the details of feeding and
w orking the iron horse.
At Sherbrooke the Grand Trunk Company have a
more extensive suite of buildings than at South Que-
bec. In approaching that station the very extensive
Brompton Mills, owned by Mr. Clarke, form a very
prominest object of attention to the stranger. Large
quantities of lumber are exported thence to the south.
The Portland route is exceedingly well built, and the
cars glide most smoothly over its heavy and secure
rails.
The company, unlike that of the Great Western line
in Upper Canada, have taken into their employ many
Canadians as well as Englishmen. The condector, with
whom the first passengers went out, Mr. Vallee, being a
Franco-Canadian, and as we are informed an intelligent
and active officer. The uniform of the conductors merits
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etrightthe tphaasts
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wear
i sed
some distinguishing mark. They are clad in a neat blue
surtout, with gilt buttons, and " G.T.R." in small
letters on the collar indicates the company in whose
service they act. They wear also a blue cloth forage-
cap with gold band. In the winter, though it may be
permitted to dispense with this light dress, we do not
admire the adoption of a complete mufty, as if aroused
from his slumbers on a night train, any man asked to
show his ticket would feel justified in demanding the
credentials of the " gent" should he wear the garb of an
ordinary passenger.
Talking of the minor comforts of American cars; we
decidedly prefer them to those of England, or even the
more snug and cozy cars of la Belle France, where the
want of a stove is only in part compensated for by the
feet warmers.
At Richmond the excursionists were met by a number
of familiar faces from Montreal, who had started from
the opposite end of the route at about the same hour
as ourselves of Stadacona, and the half-way meeting
formed an appropriate place and occasion to sa-
tiate the appetites of all the voyageurs, a mat-
ter of no minor consideration to either caterer or guests,
after the keen though agreeable weather experienced in
the morning. A. most grateful collation was generously
provided, including every luxury of meats and wines.
Sir Cusack, and Lady Roney, Mr. Martin, Mr. and Mrs.
O'Brien, and others were at the head of the table ; ap-
propriate toasts were honoured, and it is needless to add
that ample justice was done by all concerned, when the
shrill whistle warned us that the hour of departure had
, come.

eft:" entry and
exit as the train halted at the various country posts on
the way, a most satisfactory indication of the extensive
business the line is certain to do when its details of its
managementand working, and the hours of starting, &c.,
become generally known to the many small communities
throughout the district which it traverses. 'We under-
stand that as many as one hundred and fifty through
passengers came down by one of the first evening trains.

INDIA HOUSE.

A Quarterly General Court of Directors and Proprie-
tors of the East India Company was held yesterday
at the Company's house, Leadenhall-street. Mr.
Al•Naghten, deputy chairman of the Court of Directors,
presided. 4
The minutes of the last general court having been
read and confirmed.
The bye-laws were read over, certain alterations made,
and the amendments agreed to.
Mr. LEWIS then moved, "That the Court of Direc-
tors do distribute among the proprietors, to each indi-
vidual, a copy of Thornton 's Gazetteer." He belived the
only objection to the motion was the expense ; but he
did not think, considering the importance of the work
and the valuable information it was likely to disseminate
throughout the British empire, .where little authentic
was known respecting India, that any objection could
be fairly taken to it.
Captain SNEA seconded the motion.
The CHAIRMAN trusted the honourable gentleman
would rot persevere in his motion, as it would be at-
tended with an expenditure of something like 8,0001.,
and the effect of it might be to establish a precedent for
other expenses of a similar kind. Any gentleman who
wished to expend a few pounds in this valuable work
could do so, but ho did not think the company ought to
bo called upon to pay it.
Mr. WEEDON said, if the hon. proprietor had recom-
mended that every one should purchase the book and
place it in his library, he would be doing good service.
After a few words from Mr. Clarke, the motion was
put and negatived.
THE 6TH NATIVE LIGHT CAVALRY.
Mr. LEWIN then rose to move, " That the Court of
Directors do lay upon the proprietors' table a copy of the
despatch from the Madras. Government on which
the military authorities of the Home Government
confirmed as legal (if they ever did so, as has been
stated) the proceedings of the military authorities
of Madras in the case of the court-martial of the
6th Light Cavalry." Also, "That the Court of Di-
rectors do lay upon the proprietor' table a statement
showing the present position ofall the parties (or their rela-
tives) of the same regiment (in respect of pension or other
maintenance) who were punished by award of court-
martial, or summarily dismissed without trial. The
same statement to show the rank, the length of services,
and whether any of the parties had received honorary
rewards for distinguished services to the State." He
had frequently brought this question before the court
—(hear, hear)—but he contended that the whole affair
had been an act of injustice, and a breach of faith with
the unfortunate sepoys. The lion. gentleman then
proceeded to repeat the circumstances which gave rise
to the mutiny, and which have been frequently detailed
in the former proceedings of the court. The unfortunate
result of the affair was, that two men were put to death,
and 13 ordered to be transported for life. That these
men were shot illegally there could be no doubt, and
that was to some:; extent admitted by the sentence of
transportation having been revoked with regard .;to
nearly all the men. The men had not been put upon
their trial for nine months after the affair took place,
and during all that time they were doing duty regu-
larly with the other Indian forces. The commandr-
in-chief had refused a copy of the proceedings to the
relatives of these men, although they were legally
entitled to it. The most extraordinary thing was the
way in which seven native officers were summarily dis-
missed from the service. The court-martial was com-
prised of only seven instead of thirteen officers, and that
alone constituted it an illegal court. He thought there
could not be an objection to his motion. All he
wanted to know was, what had become of those men
who had been sentenced to 13 years transportation ?
Mr. JONES seconded the motion.
The CRAIRMA.N said he would hest consult the feel-
ings of the court by meeting the motion with a direct
negative.
The question was then put and negatived.
Captain M`GREGon asked a question relative to the
granting of a brevetshiP to Indian officers who retired
upon full pay after a lengthened service ; to which
The CHAIRMAN replied that the new arrangement
made by the royal warrant of the 6th October last, as it
would to some extent affect the Indian army, had not
been lost sight of by the directors. The hon. gentleman
might rest assured that pari passu, so far as the new
was 'app the same regulations were
system
adopted with regard to the Indian army.
likely to be
The regulations on this point will be published in a few
days.
An Hon. Proprietor gave notice of a motion for the
next quarterly court relative to the payment of 10,000/,
to the Indian Steam-packet Company, as compensation
for the services rendered by that company in 1842.
Th, Coat then adi,panqd,

THE FOREIGN ENLISTMENT BILL,

The worst feature of the proceedings of Government
in connection with the Foreign Enlistment Bill, is the
distrust which they evince towards the country. If the
Cabinet be acting fairly by us, and be doing that of
which it is not ashamed, why not have stated openly
what were their intentions ? Why not declare the true
drift and whole scope of their measure
We do not believe that, when Parliament assented, on
Tuesday night, to the passing of the Foreign Enlistiusnt
Bill, on its second reading, either majority or minority
had any true notion of the real value of the measure
about which they contended. It is a positive fact, that
at this moment the country thinks, and we suspect Par-
liament also is persuaded, that the measure which is '
now before a committee of the whole house involves only
the employment of ten thousand foreign mercenaries in
our service abroad, whereas it really and truly aims--
1. At the employment of perhaps forty or fifty
thousand mercenaries abroad, the ten thou-
sand being kept in England as a depot.
2. The subsidising of German States.
Now, as to the first point the Queen may, in virtue of
her royal prerogative, employ abroad as many foreigners
as she or her Government may choose, the only check
upon this action of the Government, on the part of the
people, being their power of granting or refusing the
supplies for the payment of such troops. But the Queen
cannot, unless sanctioned by special Act of Parliament,
introduce into this free country one single foreign soldier,
and therefore the Cabinet has brought the present bill
before Parliament, that they may be allowed, not, as they
pretend, to drill only 10,000 foreigners and send them
to the Crimea, but really and truly to establish a per-
manent depot in this country of 10,000 men, which, as
every person acquainted with military affairs knows, is
considered equivalent to the existence of an army of
40,000 or 50,000 men.
That is what the Government are insidiously driving
at. If the measure be so good, why not avew it ?—why
not convict us of foolishness in opposing it ? No ! The
Government of Lord Aberdeen know they do not
possess the true confidence of the country ;
and, instead of endeavouring to gain it by
English measures, they are trying to deceive it. The
conscience of the country is honest—would that of the
Government were so also !

Parliament have no notion as yet of the expenditure
it is really called upon to sanction, and that it will be
called upon to provide for. It is not to know that till
it has irretrievably committed itself by giving its sanc-
tion to the establishment of a depot in this country of
ten thousand foreign troops.
The next point is the subsidising of foreign States,
which is involved in this measure. For we assume that,
in accordance with all precedent, the foreign Stites
whose troops we hire will require so much per head in
addition to our undertaking to pay and provide for the
contingent we may engage. From foreign Govern-
ments these troops must be hired—there is no doubt of
that. There is no chance of recruiting a legion. We
know how well the King of Naples treats his troops—
his only friends—and that he has exhausted Switzerland,
offering pay and bounties with which we cannot
compete ; but, perhaps, the most complete and prac-
tical proof of the impossibility of raising a foreign legion
by large bounty and good pay is offered by the Pope,
whose recruiting officers have scoured Germany and
Switzerland in vain. His Holiness required a legion of
eight thousand men only, but he has not yet, after nearly
six months' attempts, succeeded in enlisting two thou-
sand. Under these circumstances we feel warranted in
assuming that we cannot tempt German volunteers to
fight and die for us for the wretched stipend of the Bri-
tish soldier ; and we look upon it as certain that the
present Cabinet is prepared to hire large numbers of
troops from German Governments, paying them, accord-
ing to precedent, a subsidy for their use against our
enemies.

Which are the States that have the good fortune to be
selected for our subsidies—what are the soldiers it will
be our lot to be defended by, we shall shortly know ; in
the meantime, the following information, conveyed to us
by the Allegnzeine Zeitung of the 13th instant, throws
perhaps not a little light upon the subject, The Allge-
meine Zeitung's Gotha correspondent writes, under date,
Gotha, December 7
At the sitting to-day of the Saxe-Coburg Gotha
Parliament, under the Presidency of Court Councillor
Becher, besides the proposition of varioas alterations
which concern the constitution of the state and the
Royal Household, other propositions also of not less im-
portance (nicht minder wichtige) proceeded from the
Government.
"It demanded, namely, a credit of 100,000 thalers
for the mobilisation of the contingent, and also 56,000
thalers for furnishing it with more effective fire and side
arms.
" The timely care of the Government goes yet further.
It has already caused its army estimates to be prep ared,
and will account for the amount demanded with the
Parliament. These propositions of the Government are
now being discussed in committee, and will be considered
in the whole house at its next sitting." This mobilisation
of the Saxe-Coburg contingent, and, further, the myste-
rious indication of the increase in the army estiin ates, is
but too significant.
Mr. Disraeli well put forward the argument that we
are acting as though our army alone was opposed to that
of the Emperor of Russia. Have we not an ally 1 An '
ally who can land as many men as we wish, or can
transport and pay for on the Crimean shore. Yet here
is another mystery 1 Another Ministerial silence !
Has application been made to France ? Or has the Go-
vernment weortained that the German is, indeed, the
cheapest market of muskets, if not of patriotism ?
On another occasion, when England, represented as
now by the nobre§t and bravest of her land, stood weak
and weary, but still uneowed before an enemy who arro-
gantly supposed that that dreary night was to be the last
of that faded host, her hero is represented to have said
that

" If we aro doomed to die, we are enow
To do our country loss; but if to live,
The fewer men the greater share of honour."
Some such sentiment probably animates the gallant
army that now upholds the honour of England in the
Crimea, though outworn, as these brave men are, by
fatigue and unrest, and dizzied by the ceaseless roar
of artillery and the incessant sounds of war that shake
the ttrengest nerves, they may well be excused if they
do wish for more men from England. But what will
that unconquerable band whose hands can so well keep
their heads say when they are told that they are to be
grateful for more men from Coburg—that their deliverers
are to be Germans, bought lean by contract at per
thousand souls (for by such phrase German royalty
asserts the complete property of the prince in her seh-
jects), fattened in a couple of months on British fare,
and then sent with a piteous resignation to the great
slaughterhouse on the Tauric Chersonese, for so no
doubt, those ill-timed levies will regard the spot which
our men look upon as the welcome theatre of deeds ;
whose valour, never surpassed, is repaid by renown
rarely equalled, and coeval with the history of the land.
Brave men the Germans undoubtedly are, but are they
equal to meet the brunt of such a battle as Alma, to bear
unmoved such a terrible onslaught as Inkerman ? De-
plorable as was the carnage at Balaklava, yet the coun-
try would prefer to hear of it than to have to record
the conduct of that Hanoverian Colonel of Hussars, who,
at Waterloo, after reiterated orders to advance, when at
last a staff officer brought him the caustic direction
either to attack or to withdraw his men, blandly thanked
the astounded aide-de-camp for the courteous alterna-
tive, and selected the latter course. What would Lord
Cardigan have said to that ? What security is there
that it might not occur again ?
But why is this outrage offered to the manhood of
England ? Cui bone ? What country ever sent forth
such an array of soldiers, all volunteers l Guards, ca-
valry, artillery, infantry, all soldiers of their own free
choice ; not one man taken from his home by force of
law ; whilst militia battalions rise as by magic from the
earth, as the armed men sprang from the fabled teeth—
every man of whop; is a better man than can be expected
from these unnational levies, with what is oven of much
more importance—a perssnal, a local, and a national
character to support. Will any one say that, supposing
a regiment of the line to be reduced to five hundred
bayonets, the addition of three hundred men from a mi-
litia regiment would not restore its numerical efficiency,
without perceptibly affecting its discipline in quarter, or
its conduct in the field ? The men are there, the will is
there, the war spirit exults throughout the length and
breadth of the land : those that do not fight are con-
tent to pay. The very drawing-rooms testify in lint and
mittens to the readiness of the country for battle, and we
are told that we require mercenary Germans to fight our
battles. There must be some evil influence at work to
• produce such an untoward result.
England is true enough to herself, but the hour is not
far off when, with one voice, England will ask—Are her
public servants true to her?—Morning Post.

ACCIDENT TO THE MARCHIONESS OF

lIASTINGS.

HOLYEEAD, Dec. 20.—The Chester and Holyhead
Company's
packet Llewellyn had a very rough passage
across from Kingstown on Monday. During the gale,
as the vessel was nearing the Welsh coast, she was struck
by a tremendous sea, which broke over her amidships and
carried away a portion of the bulwarks. The Marchio-
ness of Hastings and her daughter, the Lady Bertha
Hastings, were among the passengers, and had seated
themselves on deck to windward, where they were in
some measure protected by a canvas awning. Unfortu-
nately, the sea struck the ship where the marchioness
was seated, snd with so much force that both ladies were
thrown with great violence from off their seats and
carried across the deck under the bow of the long-boat
to leeward. The marchioness was completely stunned,
having sustained a sevei e blow on the temple, and some
injury to her back. The man at the helm missed both
ladies instantly, and on assistance arriving, the marchio-
ness was found completely wedged in under the long-
boat, from which position she was removed with diffi-
culty. The Lady Bertha escaped comparatively unhurt,
but on the Llewellyn arriving at Holyhead, the marchio-
ness was so ill that it was found necessary to remove her
ladyship to the Royal Hotel, where she received from
Mrs. Hibbert the assiduous attentions required by the
severity of the injuriem she had sustained. The marchio-
ness, was on her way from Carton, the Duke of Leinster
s
seat, to Portsmouth, to meet her husband, Capt. Yel-
vertoo, of the Arrogant, whe is hourly expected to arrive
at that port. It was considered by the captain of the
Llewellyn, and many persons on board, that both ladies
had had a most miraculous escape from being washed
overboard.

BRAMHOPE TUNNEL.—We understand that the repairs
of this tunnel are so far complete as to admit of a goods
passing on the line morning and evening. It is
hoped that in a short time the repairs will be in ouch a
tsrtthl e
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