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

CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM.

(From the Somerset County Gazette.)
We have read, with much surprise and regret, the re-
cent lucubrations of our able and influential Contempo-
rary, The Suu, on this topic.
It has broached this extraordinary doctrine, in its
broadest :application ; that because popular vigilance and
control are required, even under the most popular forms
of government, no Constitutional Reforms are worth seek-
ing, and that instead of asking for a share in the direct
control of the Legislature, the people should be satisfied to
control it indirectly, by means of public assemblies and
political agitation, and it even went so far as to recom-
mend the establishment of monthly meetings of the people
for this purpose.
Feeling, as we do, a deep and sincere interest in the
well-being of our enterprising Contemporary, and anxious
that its great influence should be directed to the best and
wisest objects, we cannot refrain from protesting, kindly,
but earnestly, against a doctrine so unsound and dangerous
as that which we have noted.
And, first, let us see to what it would lead. The Sun
agrees, we believe, with all observant men, in the fact, that
the representative system, as modified by the Reform Bill,
is most defective—that it does not succeed in obtaining

Ithat which it was intended to procure, a fair representation
of the opinions of the community. It excludes many who
are fit to form an opinion from the privilege of expressing
it, and it does not permit those whom it professes to
enfranchise to xpress a free and unbiassed opinion.
The Legislature, thus chosen, not only does not represent
the community, but it does not even represent the opinions
of the electors.

Now, the doctrine of The Sun leads inevitably to this
conclusion—that representation is unnecessary—that
direct nomination, by nobles or by the monarch, would
be as good a mode as any other of choosing a Parlia-
ment. For The Sun cannot say that an improved re-
presentation is not worth seeking, without tacitly ad-
mitting that representation itself is worthless—a doc-
trine better suited to the llMor•ning Post than to The Sllll.
But the doctrine of ne Sun goes in fact to the esta-
blishment of Democracy in its worst form—as it prevailed
in ancient days, when every citizen assisted in person in the
making of laws, and the Government was purely that of a
mob. We had been wont to consider Representative Go-
vernment as the triumph of modern civilization, as the
proud distinction between the license of old democracies
and the liberty of modern countries. But The Sun startles
us from the complacent dream, by asserting that represen-
tation, so much boasted of; is worthless, and that periodi-
cal assembles of the people should be substituted for it.
The Editor of The Sun has been led astray by a wrong
conclusion drawn from a very striking and just observation
—that even in the United States, where representation is
co-extensive with population, and freedom of opinion is
protected by the Ballot, public meetings and discussions
are required, and are not less frequent, nay, are more re-
sorted to, than among ourselves. From this fact our Con-
temporary draws the too hasty conclusion, that no repre-
sentation of the public opinion can supercede the ne-
cessity of a direct influence of that opinion upon the re-
presentatives.

The manifest error of our Contemporary has arisen from

this. He mistakes the object of pulalic meetings in the
United States. They are held, not for the purpose of in-
fluencing or controlling the representatives, but for the pur-
pose of influencing the public opinion by which the repre-
sentatives are chosen. Public meetings and public discus-
sions through the Press, are incessantly occurring, because
they are the best means by which the public mind can be
directed, and thus ultimately the Legislature moulded.

In England, we resort to public meetings as a clumsy
substitute for representation. Public opinion, not being
fairly expressed in the Legislature, is obliged to form a
kind of fourth estate of its own, and by the fear which it
. _

Inspires to get itself substituted for the real Legislature.
Of course this process can be successfully accomplished
only when some great excitement stimulates public opinion
to the energy necessary to enable it to usurp the functions
of the legitimate Legislature—but such excitements are rare
—and rightly so.
This process is, in fact, not government but revolution.
Its frequent repetition would be incompatible with the
peace and welfare of society. Yet this is the roundabout
process recommended by The Sun, in preference to the
direct influence of public opinion through the medium of
fair and free representation.
Does not The Sun see that if the Legislature repre-
sented public opinion, opinion would have no need to con-
trol the Legislature. There would be a constant endea-
vour by the minority to mould opinion, and thus convert
itself into a majority, and hence there would be public
meetings and discussions, but we should never need, as
as now, to array t. e opinion of the majority against the
Legislature, and rush into revolution to make that opinion
operative.

We have more to say on this subject, and we should
'Mich like to hear how our ingenious Contemporary defends
his strange position.

It is currently reported that the Martello Towers on
the eastern coast are immediately to be put into a state of
defence.

At Dubley, on Friday, Mr. Paskins, formerly a
school-master, and now possessed of from 15,0001. to 20,0001.,
was held to bail in 4001. to take his trial at the next sessions,
for stealing about two yards of cloth from an auction room in
that town.— Worcester Journal.

The greatest distance accomplished by the Royal
William steamer on her passage to New York, on one day,
was 265 miles, and the least was 112 miles. The wind was
against her nearly all the voyage.

On Tuesday last, as a young man, named Gwennap,
son of a farmer in this neighbourhood, was standing on a rock
near Pemberth Cove, looking at a fox chase, the sea suddenly
rose, and swept him away. He instantly disappeared, and his
body has not been found. He was a very promising young
man, and his loss is a severe affliction to his family.-- IVestern
Luminary.
ROCIIDA LE FLANNEL MARKET, Nov. s.—ne
demand for coarse goods has been uncommonly brisk to-tiny,
and the market has been cleared of pieces of that descripdon ;
the last week's prices have been freely given. Wool remains
firm, and has undergone no change.
THE 'WEA TllER.—During the last fortnight the
weather has been exceedingly wet and ungenial--a succession
of mists and rains, with an occasional glimpse of sunshine, just
serving to raise the spirits one hour to be as surely depressed
the next. In the mountain districts of this county, in Cum-
berland, and still further north, we are sorry to sa a
great quantity of grain remains unstacked y,
and s evep. uncut. Should the present unfavourable weatherome contie:ue
much longer, we fear the farmers will scartNely be 6'x to
snake any use of the corn at present outstanding. In the
Northern counties the crops altogether are below the average,
both in quantity and quality, and it is but ton probable that
flour, potatoes, &c., will remain sontewhere about their pre-
sent high prices until next sease,h.—K
A ettdal Mercury..
female, mimed Elizabeth Ernestine Thaler,
her died
on the 22d ult. at Vienna, having attained the great age of
s
116. She entered family as a servant when only 11 years
old, and remained in it till her
(1,:: thear
seeing two out of
three generations in it
and,
-- pays away. She was never married,
-
r.,scrtectlnte a
her life. ' 11emu al f culties to the last moment of

COMMUNICATION BETWEEN LON.
DON AND DUBLIN.

The following is a summary of the different lines of route
which are described in the Report as being in existence, or
having been suggested for this purpose:—
Exploring surveys have been made for fixing the general
direction of a railroad from London to Holyhead, but the diffi-
culties are represented to be very great. If, however, it were
carried into effect, and the port were improved so as to admit
a better class of vessels, the mail from London to Dublin
might probably be delivered within 17 hours and 52 or 53
minutes, supposing no delay to be occasioned in passing the
Menai Bridge. This would allow half an hour for going from
the Post-office in London to the railway station and for start-
ing ; ten hours five minutes for the railway conveyance-272
miles at 27 miles per hour; half an hour for embarking and
starting; ten miles per hour for the voyage; and half an hour
for landing at Kingstown and reaching the Dublin Post-office.
The branch of railroad (about 83 miles in length), and har-
bour improvements necessary for making this route, are esti-
mated by Mr. Cubitt at about 2,000,000/.
At the above-mentioned rates of travelling, the railroad
conveyance from the Loudon Post-office to Liverpool would
require 81- hours, and the whole distance from London to
Dublin by that route would occupy.22l hours. But as the
mails from Dublin to the other parts of Ireland are de..
spatched at 7 o'clock in the evening, the London mail by
this conveyance would usually arrive too late (at a quarter
past 6) to admit of the letters it conveyed being forwarded
the same evening by the country mails. The Commis-
sioners suggest that, in order to effect this very desirable
object, the mail service on the railway may be pushed to 30
miles per hour, thereby gaining three-quarters of an hour,
and the bags might be conveyed at once on board, without
communicating with the Post-office at Liverpool, which would
save another quarter of an hour; if, in addition to this, the
departure of the country mails from Dublin were deferred till
eight o'clock, or, still better, till nine, the London mails might
almost uniformly be forwarded the same evening. By this
means Londuj letters might be received at a distance of
above 100 miles in the interior of Ireland within thirty six or
thirty-seven hours, and nearly the whcle day be allowed for
preparing answers, which, by corresponding arrangements
of the country, might reach London in 38 or 39 hours. This
would reduce the time necessary for sending a letter from
London to such places, and receiving an answer, from five
days to three. The Liverpool passage would, however, al-
a.ys be subject to peculiar irregularity in consequence—lst,
of the local effect of strong tides; 2d, of the prevailing winds
b,.ing directly contrary from Liverpool to Dublin; 3d, the
want of water to enable vessels to pass the bar of the Mersey
at the low-water spring tides ; 4th, of the necessity of fre-
quently taking the new channel, which is longer than the
other; sth, of the hours of departure being the most unfa-
vourable that could be selected for the strongest and lowest
tides.

Orine's Bay, between Liverpool and Holyhead, has been
suggested as another route. The distance from London is 230
miles, and to Kingstown 96. The time required for convey-
ing' the mail from London to Dublin by this line would be 19
hours 33 minutes. It would be subject to the effect of the
preva►ling contrary winds in the passage to Ireland, but not to
the other inconveniences found at Liverpool. The harbour
and about forty-four miles of railroad would, however, have
to be made for this purpose, the expense of which works Mr.
Cubitt thinks is likely to be about 1,000,000/.
Another project is the construction of a new harbour at
Porth-Dynllaen, on the coast of Carnarvon, to which a Rail-
way should be carried from the Birmingham line, making a
di=lance of 230 miles from London. The voyage would be
0 miles, and the whole journey would take eighteen hours
eight minutes. The voyage would be shorter and less subject
to adverse winds than by any of the three last mentioned
routes, and the whole journey only a quarter of an hour
longer than by a perfect line to Holyhead ; but a new harbour
:ind 135 miles of Railroad would be necessary, which have been
e,tiniated by Mr. Cubitt as not likely to cost less than
3,000,004

With regard to the north of Ireland, a quicker route
might be effected by Liverpool and Ardglass, if the latter port
were considered fit for a packet station, but the voyage would
be longer than between Holyhead, Porth-Dynllaen, or Orme's
Bay, and Kingstown, and the arrival of the mail at Belfast
at about 8 o'clock in the evening would not afford any great
practical benefit. A direct steam navigation from Liverpool
to Belfast would not offer any saving of time, but should, as
is not improbable, the railway be continued from Lancaster
to Glasgow, the mail might be forwarded by that route to
Portpatrick for the north of Ireland, so as to reach Belfast
is 19 or 20 hours.
Various routes are then examined in the report which have
been proposed from Portb-Dynllaen to Wicklow; from Mil-
ford to Dunmore ; from Portishead, near Bristol, to Dunmore
or Waterford • and from Fishguard,on the coast of Carmar-
then, to Kingston or Wexford; but the Commissioners consi-
der the route through Dublin preferable to any of these.
" If," they add, " the country letters can be thus despatched
from Dublin to other parts of Ireland in twenty-four hours
after leaving London, the whole of thuipacket establishments,
except one, may be dispensed with, as well as the day mails
from Dublin to Cork and Belfast. It will only he necessary
to provide a direct communication between the west of Eng-
land and the south of-Ireland."

We have great pleasure (says the Dublin Evening
Post) in announcing that his Excellency the Lord-Lieutenant
has been pleased to confer on Mr. Joseph Denis Mullins, the
' office of Marshal of the Four Courts Marshalsea, vacant by the
' death of the late Mr. Mason. The Orange Press, in noticing
this appointment, contents itself with saying that Mr. Mullins
was an agitator of some notoriety and pretension. An agitator
he was, certainly, as the Orangemen of the county and city of
Dublin know but too well, for he agitated at the elections and
registries to some purpose.
On Tuesday morning the new and powerful engine
called " The Hurricane" left Maidenhead with the nine
o'clock train, consisting of two of the best class, one of the
second, and one of the open carriages, filled with passengers,
for town. The journey as far as West Drayton was effected
with great safety and swiftness, but after leaving that station,
and before reaching Bull's Bridge, an accident happened,
by the bursting of a portion of the lower part of her works
above the fender, by which both engine and train were
thrown cff the rails (north line) with much violence, to
the great alarm of the passengers, who, however, got out
without sustaining any injury. At that juncture the Arid engine, with the nine o'clock train, from Paddington, came
in sight, and before anything could be done to remove
the train, the doors of the carriages of which had been
left open on the off-side, a collision took place, by which
the Hurricane was much injured, as were also the open,
second class, and one of the first class car fiages, the
doors being torn off. Marlow, one of the guards, and
also one of the conductors, were thrown off by the force
of the concussion, but happily escaped injury ; and it is almost
a miracle that the Ariel and train were not also thrown off
the line. Expresses were instantly despatched both to
Maidenhead and to Paddington with information of the oc-
currence, from both of which places extra engines were
promptly forwarded. The 10 o'clock train from Maidenhead, however, arrived previously, but was detained for a long time before the line could be cleared. The complaints from the
passengers, it being market day (Covent-garden, &c.), were
" loud and deep" at the delay, and they did not arrive at
Paddington until after 12 o'clock ; in fact, all the te;,rning
trains were delayed some time in consequence of the 'accident.
The Hurricane and the damaged carriages wet as soon as
possible conveyed to the West Drayton ststating,",
where they
still remain.
On Monday night, between eielt and nine o'clock,
as a youth, about ten years of age, the son of Mr. Waite,
builder, of Millbank-street, was passing through Blenheim_
street, Westminster, where a number of boys bad assembled
amusing themselves with fireworks, a cracker struck him in
the eye and exploded, which put him into such dreadful
agony that he was obliged to be instantly taken to a surgeon,
when it was found that his eye was actually forced from the
socket ; and fears are entertained that the brain is affected.
THE FIRE AT THE CASTLE INN, TAMWORTH.
—ln addition to the melancholy loss of life owing to this cala-
mitous event, we have to add that of another female, formerly
a servant at the inn, who on Saturday last entreated to see the
bodies of the poor sufferers, and having seen them and re-
turned home, died in half an hour, from the severe shock she
received.— Wolverhampton Chronicle.
THE BRITISH QUEEN.—This stupendous funnel
is now ready to be taken down to Port Glasgow, to be put on
board the British Queen steam ship. It is of men-
sions, and is the largest of the kind that has evergreat di
been made.
in this country.---Edinburgh Advertiser.
The shipping trade at present is remarkably gorA
in Leith. The docks exhibit a g-eater show of business than
for some time past. A fine American ship, the Merchant, a
temperance vessel, is discharging a cargo of upwards of 500
hhds. and tierces Virginia tobacco. Other ve-ssels are dis-
charging fruit and wine, and several with large cargoes of flax,
talloar, and other Baltic p'-educe. In consequence of these
foreign arrivals, the coa°',:ing trade has P
imr;roved in a corres-
ponding degree.—_, inburgh Advertiser.'
PRECURSO:A MEETING.--The Drogheda Corre-
spondent o
Prec the Dublin Evening Post thus writes :—"_A
ars'lir Society has been established in this town, under the
,m(st. gratifying and auspicious circumstances. A meeting wars
o',ld this day (Monday) at Kirk's Hotel, at which therst
Rev. Dr. Crony, R. C. Primate, and all the leading Liberals
attended. The Chair was taken by James 11,1.Cann I‘l ,
Esq.,
when, on the motion of his Grace, it was determined, to
form
resolved
a Precursor Society in Drogheda; andint was 9d° o
that a general meeting should be held o Ti. ursa y next,l at
which it is understood Sir William Some, ville, Bart., M. P.
is to preside. I understand that arreogements arcn progress
in various towns throughout Ulster for the formationi of
branches of the Precursor Society, and for inviting Mr.
Parliament. This agitation, may rest assured, will be
you a
O'Connell to public dinners previous to the reassembling of
equality of British ri6 hts and privileges."
pent National Movement against Toryism, and for securing to
tee Irish people a full
NATIONAL EDUCATION.--• (lluBLIN.) -- The
Rev. Thaddeus O'Malley, in a letter, dated from the Presby_
tery, Marlborough-street, has addressed some remarks coceet-
pying nearly three columns of the Dublin Even 1-
ost "to
his Grace the Archbishop of Tuarn," in defence of the B oar, of
National Education. Mr. O'Malley meintains that 'the spirit
of the resolutions adopted by the Bishops, in -1_826, is not
departed. from in the regulations of the Boars, of the pre-
s day
BREAD.---The principal bakers in Edinburgh raised
the
for the price of
loaf.bread last Monday to
money, and 10d. credit,
41b.
The Edinburgh Municipal Elections took place last
Tuesday; to-morrow we shall give the result.