The Sun.
London, England, 1836-11-01 00:00:00

017"11HE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

A Commission has passed the Great Seal " for
considering and reporting upon a general system of
Railweys in Ireland." This has been done in com-
pliance with an address presented to the King by the '
House of Lords, last August, on the motion of the
Marquis of Lansdowne, praying his Majesty to ap-
point competent persons, duly qualified, to consider as
to the various lines of communication in Ireland, with
the facilities which they respectively offered for the
construction of railways, and with a view to see which
could be most usefully applied in that way ; and that
the Board of Works should be directed to give such
assistance as might be necessary for carrying the in-
goiry into effect. The object of this inquiry bears a
a close Tdation to a matter of great general importance
- to the whole empire, which occupiedt' the attention of
Parliament in its last session, namely. the intercourse
between the United Kingdom and America. A se-
lect committee of the Lords was engaged in the months
or April and May in examining witnesses as to the
f .cilities which exist for such a communication, and
Cie means of improving them. The result of their in-
aoiees is a valuable body of evidence, which has been
prmtsal for the information of the public, strongly in fa-
vour of an attempt to establish a packet station and a
epot iii s,: me pert as far to the west as maybe found con-
aisteot with he other interests which are bound up in
swell an undeoisaking. The Lords engaged in that in-
quiry did not coals to any definite conclusion upon the
3 natter referred to the:o. but state in their report that
they desire further information on some important
yoiots, " and more particialarly that of the beneficial
application of steam to voy.ages of long duration."
They thought it advisable, therJore, to suspend their
proceedings, recommending the subi;ect, in the mean-
tune, to the
careful and unremitting attention of the
4joyerninent. The object of the present Commission,
astliough apparently restricted to one branch Of the in-
du,-y, namely, that of internal communication on Ire-
land, has a manifest connection with the great pa.r-
Tose which seems to be inseparable from any plan of a
rail way between Dublin and the western coast. There
ara many rival projects contending for the approval of
fa; iiament ; and the immediate matter for the Com-
missioners to consider will be the comparative merits
of those projects. But they cannot do so without re-
gat ding the ultimate advantage which they respectively
:hold out ; and, consequently, the subject of a com-
munication with America, must form a material con-
sideration in determining their opinion, for such
communication constitutes an essential feature in
every plan which will be laid before them. It will,
therefore, be the duty of the Commissioners not
merely to compare the several stations which are
designated as peculiarly adapted to that purpose,
but also to enter fully and minutely into the question
how far such a description of intercourse with Ame-
rica, as these plans contemplate, would be practicable.
The names of the persons who constitute the Co:n-
mission need only to be mentioned in order to declare
the desire of the Government that such an inquiry
may be conducted Nv;th effect, and to the perfect satis-
faction of the country. Mr. Drummond, faultless as
he is in the discharge of is is official duties, can never
be considered more at home tban when lie is engaged
in advancing an object which requires scientific know-
ledge of the highest order, in combination with ex-
tensive practical experience. His co;mection with the
Government will afford him opportuniti;:s of rendering
those qualifications of peculiar service to the purposes
of the Commission, at the head of which he is very
properly placed. We also hail the circumsttoice as
an evidence of the interest which the Government
takes in the matter, and, in some degree, a pledge of
its support. Colonel Burgoyne has been for many
years at the head of the Board of Works in Ireland,
and in his official capacity, as well as by his high pro-
fessional talents and experience, can greatly assist the
labours of his brother Commissioners. His evidence
before the Lords' Committee, to which we have
above alluded, shows that he has well considered
the subject which he will now be required to report
upon. Mr. Griffith is an engineer by profession,
and has made the mines and geological conformation
of Ireland his peculiar study. Few Irishmen arc more
extensively or better acquainted than he is with the
nature and capabilities of the soil of his navive coun-
try, or of the available resources which it contains
among its hiddeu treasures. He has also paid much
attention to the weans of facilitating intercourse by
constructing level roads through the country, adapted,
as occasion might demand, either for railways or for
ordinary traffic. Some letters which he published on
this subject about three yea 3 ago show a clear, intel-
ligent, and practical mind, which, with his valuable
stock of local information, will no doubt be found
highly useful in the present inquiry. But the labour-
ing oar in this important Commission will, probably,
fall upon Professor Barlow, inasmuch as he will have
no other duties, as long as he remains in Ireland, to
divide his attention, while all the rest have various and
weighty avocations to follow. It is hardly necessary to
tell our English readers who Professor Barlow is. His
published works class him with the first scientific
men of the day. He has attained the mastery in
every department of applied science ; but more espe-
cially, as his recent publication in conjunction with
Mr. Babhage shows, in that branch which treats of
steam as a principle of locomotion. His accurate
knowledge of that wondrous power, which enables him
not only to tell with certainty. its actual present range,
hut to calculate the extenswn and improvement of
which it is yet susceptible, confers a great value upon
his co-operation. The grand object :Ind terminus of
the inquiry being a communication by steam-ships
with North America, Mr. Barlow's name a,2ds a de-
gree of importance to this Commission, even iOsiond
that which it should necessarily derive from his
tinguished character and varied attainments. We pro-
pose to call the public attention frequently to this sub-
ject, which we regard as a national concern, worthy,
by its own magnitude, and by the great and various
interests which it involves, of national encouragement
and support.—Morning Chronicle.
The Conservative meetings which for some weeks
(perhaps months) past, it has been our grateful duty
to record and observe upon, constitute the most
for-
midable harrier against revolution that ever existed in
any society on earth. Their power is manifold, as
arc their characteristics. The nature of the sentiment
which inspires them, and which is calculated to make
converts amongst all civilized, mature, and prosperous
communities, viz., a determination to " retain the good
we have ;"—the unbroken concord which naturally
grows out of that singleness and simplicity of purpose
—the great variety of ranks and classes which are
' brought into close contact by the unpretending forms
which those associations have adopted, and the con-
sequent interchange and spread of sympathy between
portions of the body politic which had else been widely
separated—the actual numbers have thus dis-
played themselves throughout the country in defence
of institutions to which history and habit ilo.d given a
sort of instinctive influence over the unadulterated minds
of Englishmen—the bold and manly temper in wiiich
these anti-democratic Unions every where meet, and
QvOV; in the face of day their hostility to that wanton
chenge, so dear at all tunes to a licentious and desperate
rabloo—lastly, the stern spirit and commanding
ability of those, whether noblemen, gentlemen, or yeo-
men, who come forward on such occasions to represent
the Conservatives of England, and to inculcate their
principles—a signal to the friends of civil and religious
liberty throughout the kingdom that it is no wavering
standard under which they rally, and to their ene-
oniea that it is a triple fortress which they will have to
wssult. But in none of these mans' so `vices
thofe honast
est
pride and el,! vents of certain victory, E
_Norfolk meeting to Nviiich we alluded, and whose pro-
tdings were reported in yesterday's Times, excelled
by any of its predecesscrs from north to south of Eng-
bin!. The direct force and sagacity with which every
pa Itical question and national stake at issue were de-
.scr,:;cd, and the true genius of the crisis impressed
va:,so the convictions of their hearers by Lords Orford
Wodehouse, Mr. Wodehouse, and Mr. Scarlett,
Llust not only tend to disperse through the country an
ce, set knowledge of the dangers by which it is encom-
-
ass od and a sense of shame at its submission to
wthe
p .
w,tch•ed Government which has caused them, but must
work fo." the public benefit in another way, by making
the peopr‘e of England better acquainted than they
have been rith the mental powers and noble character