The Sun.
London, England, 1838-11-08 00:00:00

Zl)g 111_x+

WITH WHICH
THE « TRUE SUN " IS NOW

INCORPORATED.

LONDON :
THURSDAY EVENING, NOVEMBER 8,1838.

Since last Thursday the average of the price of
wheat has risen 3s. ld., it being now 695. sd. The
average of the six weeks published to-day is 655. 10d.
Our information concerning the potatoe crop is un-
favourable, which will contribute to raise the prices of
wheat next week and the week after. Where we shall
get another 1,500,000 quarters, when the price, shall
be again 735., and the duty ls., is, perhaps, known
to the landlords, but not to the starving people. At
present, while the price of wheat is at Guildford 795.,
and at Denbigh 81s., the duty is 21s. Bd.

The course which some of the Railway Companies
are pursuing renders it essentially necessary that means
should be adopted, and that without delay, to guard
the interests of the public against their encroachments
upon its rights. Instead of that anxiety to accommo-
date—that conscientious desire to promote, in all pos-
sible ways, the public convenience, so clamorously
professed when these Companies appeared, cap in
hand, before the Legislature to solicit privileges such
•as were never before heard of, what do we see now
that their object has been attained, and their
machinery set a-going ? Does the experience
which we have had of the working of
the Railway system, as exemplified on the Bir-
mingham line, the most important in ethe kingdom,
prove that those engagements—for such, in fact, if not
in form, they were—which this Company came under
to the public, in its various applications to Parliament,
have been kept ? So far is this from being the case,
that its proceedings are marked by a spirit of the most
grasping and ovetbearing monopoly. It began with
seeming moderation. The fares were on such a scale
as to afford no reasonable cause of complaint ; the
servants were civil, and there really appeared to be a
wish to afford, in the general arrangements, every pos-
sible facility for the transport of passengers and goods.
But no sooner was the whole line opened, and, as a
necessary consequence, coach-travelling nearly put an
end to, than the Company began to exercise the power
which it had thus acquired, in the most arbitrary
and irresponsible manner. The fares were raised—in
some cases, we believe, doubled—the arrangements
which had been fixed, and on which travellers thought
they might depend, were unceremoniously broken
through—the underlings employed on the road, taking
(as usually happens) their cue from their masters,
became unaccommodating, and even insolent ; and, in
short, the public were made to feel, at every turn,
that they were completely at the mercy of the

Company.
Such is now the state of things on this
great line of communication between the southern,
western, and northern parts of the kingdom, and it is
not an unwarrantable inference, that, sooner or later,
such will be the state of things on every other line,
unless measures be taken to counteract the tendency
to monopoly inherent in Railway Companies.
How this is to be accomplished is the question, and
it is one of no small difficulty. Without legislative
interference, nothing effectual, we apprehend, can be
done to correct the evil, and it is to be hoped that the
Legislature will turn its attention to the subject as
soon as Parliament meets. A very valuable body of
evidence was collected last Session by the Select
Committee on Internal Communication, which will,
no doubt, form the basis of any measure which it may
be considered expedient to bring before Parliament.
To certain portions of this evidence we shall take an
early opportunity of calling the public attention.

`We quite agree with the Examiner that no " penny-
wise and pound-foolish psuedo system of economy
should now be suffered to dry up the very life-blood of
our naval power and resources." At the same time
we are aware that the country has great reason to find
fault with the vast expense which the Navy costs.
Like other branches of the public service, it has been
jobbed by the Aristocracy, and has given annuities,
under the name of half-pay, to a great number of their
sons, relatives, and dependents. The emoluments of
each individual officer are not sufficient, but there are
on the Navy-lists about three times as many officers
as can ever be employed. The saving of expense
must come from the diminution of the number of
officers, and it is a just and proper complaint that,
after twenty three years' peace, the amount of the dead
weight, when it ought to be half extingzflshed, is
scarcely lessened.
A very general evil is connected with the insufficient

pay given to naval officers, to which the public atten-
tion ought to be directed. If every class of officers
and seamen were better paid in her MAJESTY'S Navy,
the standard for the wages of all kinds of seamen
would be elevated, and the condition of that valuable
class of men be much improved. For the public com-
fort this is a matter of great importance. The number
of passengers who go by steam-vessels, is continually
increasing, and their safety and their lives, depend al-
together on the skill and courage of the Captains and
crews of steam vessels. If they, however, are not paid
reasonably, respectable, well-educated people will not
follow such employments, and the lives of great multi-
tudes will be placed at the mercy of ignorant and care-
less persons. For the public at large, the occupation
of Captains of steam-vessels, is a great deal more im-
portant than that of Treasury clerks, or Custom-house
Commissioners, who get about five times as much pay.
One of the large steam-vessels employed by the
Navigation Company, costs not less than 20,0001. to
build and fit her out. She very often carries a cargo
of twice that value, and very often has on board from
30 to 60 passengers. Her crew may consist of 10 or
12 seamen, and 10 or 12 men connected with the
engine, so that the Captain of such a vessel has, on the
average, property to the amount of 40,0001., and the
lives of from 50 to 100 persons placed in his charge.
He must be an excellent seaman, and from year's end
to year's end is never unemployed. Half his time he
is up all through the night, or has only broken rest.
His labours are as arduous, then, as his charge is great.
Now, such a man, gets only 1601. or 180/. a-year, and
has to provide himself out of it.
A Custom-house clerk, that attends to his business
about eight hours a-day, and has little or no respon-
sibility, gets twice or thrice as much. A seaman on
board a steam-vessel gets about 20s. a-week, but he
has to victual himself; he is exposed to all weathers,
has broken rest, and uninterrupted labour. In our
estimation, such men are not paid well enough to in-
sure the services of persons to whom passengers may
like to trust their lives and merchants their property.
Such a responsible situation as that of Captain of a
large steam-ship, should be made, if we look at
the utility of the two classes, equal in pay
to the Colonel of a regiment. Lieutenants of her
MAJESTY'S Navy are intrusted with the command
of her MAJEsTY's ships, and their responsibility is
at times much greater than that of the Captain of a
steam-vessel. They, however, get less pay than he
does, or about 1301. a-year, but they have their provi-
sions. To increase the pay of all the inferior Officers
and seamen of her MAJESTY'S fleet, would not only
ensure an abundance of seamen and better educated
Officers, but it would also elevate the character and
condition of our merchant marine, which, for the public
safety, is much to be desired.

We learn by the Scotch Reformer's Gazette that
the Justices of Renfrewshire are not behind their
brethren in England in lowering the dignity of their
office in the eyes of the public. Mr. BARR, a highly
respectable solicitor, transmitted some months ago a
written complaint to the HOME SECRETARY of the
Sheriff Substitute of,Renfrewshire, a Mr. CAMPBELL,
for delaying to give judgment in cases submitted to
him, and so causing grievous injury to some of Mr.
BARR'S clients. Lord JOHN RUSSELL referred the
complaint to the LORD ADVOCATE, who instituted an
investigation into the matter, and the result was that
Mr. Sheriff CAMPBELL, who is said to be a very
egtimable gentleman, but fond of procrastination, was
admonished by the HOME SECRETARY. But before
the inquiry was instituted, which has so completely
justified Mr. BARR, the Justices of Renfrewshire held
a meeting and passed resolutions strongly condemning
Mr. BARR'S proceedings. The resolutions of the
Justices were also properly brought under the notice of
the HOME SECRETARY, for they presumed to judge
of an affair which belonged to his office and to judge
without inquiry ; and Lord J. RUSSELL informed them
that " their conduct was calculated to destroy the just
weight of their authority." The poor Justices appear
to have been ashamed of the reproof, and kept it from
the public knowledge from August last till the 30th
ult. A letter from Mr. BARR to the Convener of the
county, then led to Lord JOHN'S reproof being pub-
licly read by their Clerk in Court, as it ought to have
been immediately it was received. These circum-
stances have excited, we are assured by the Gazette,
a great sensation in Renfrewshire, and Mr. BARR
has obtained a complete triumph over the Jus-
tices. Over Mr. CAMPBELL he sought no triumph ;
but he has been instrumental in obtaining justice
for his own clients, and in ensuring a more speedy
administration of justice in the Sheriff's Court of Ren-
frewshire.

The Somerset Gazette, one of the many excellent
advocates of the Liberal cause which now, happily
for the public peace, flourish in the provinces, request.;
an explanation from us. The article of our Contem-
porary, which we insert, is drawn up in so friendly a
spirit, that we cannot do otherwise than comply with
his request, and our answer is this.
Our Contemporary overlooks the object we have in
view, which has been all along to recommend a pre-
sent attempt to get rid of the Corn-laws in preference
to the organizing a plan to seek Universal Suffrage.
Our Contemporary does not quote our words, which
would have been only proper, nor mention the article
horn which he has drawn his inferences, which would
have facilitated our reply. We answer, therefore, some-
what in the dark, but we presume that the passage he
refers to was our statement of the 27th ult. as follows :
" We have stated in this Journal that it is impossible for the
people, by any art or contrivance, unless that of a despotic
government, to release themselves from the duty of watching
over, controlling, and regulating public affairs. The inference
we are disposed to draw from this circumstance is, that it is a
waste of their time and means to seek constitutional reforms."

Our opinion then was .expressed
to e
d very
not positively, and it was putcheck,
fara s
forth
we could, the present untimely pursuit of a very great,
and indeed overwhelming, constitutional change.
When we penned the passage, there was present to
our mind, also, the little practical advantage the
working classes have derived from the constitutional
reform they were so eager to promote in 1831-1832,
with the little benefit the people in France, in Bel-
gium, and in the Southern States of America, have
derived from what have purported to be, in those
countries, great constitutional reforms. At the same
time, we neither said nor supposed that our Contem-
porary could infer from our writing, that at no time
or place were any constitutional reforms ever to be
desired ; but merely—they are of such a doubtful
nature, so vast, and in their results so little to be ap-
preciated before-hand, that it is a waste of time and
means to prefer them to practical improvement. We
made that statement principally from the fact, that no
such improvements could exonerate the people from the
duty of watching and controlling public affairs ; be-
cause we know that the Chartists urge the necessity
they are now under of watching the Government, as a
reason why they should have a change which would
allow them, undisturbed by attending to the Govern-
ment, to pursue their own business or amusement.
Our Contemporary, therefore, will see that he has
totally misrepresented our opinions. 'We never said,
and never meant to imply, that no constitutional re-
forms were worth seeking, and that, instead of asking
for a direct share in the Legislature, the people should
be satisfied to controul it indirectly ; and we never
recommended monthly meetings for the purpose. We
from Sir BROOKE FAULKNER's
quotid a passaie