The Sun.
London, England, 1838-03-05 00:00:00

not less sagacious in avoiding our blunders. The French
Government lately obtained the sanction of the Chamber
of Deputies to a plan, the object of which is the construc-
tion of national railroads on a truly magnificent scale, and
which cannot fail to produce results of the highest impor-
tance, not only to the trade and commerce of that rapidly-
improving country, but to the general cause of civilization.
The plan to which we allude assumes the capital of France
as a centre, from which issue several main trunks of rail-
way towards the frontiers, the principal termini being
Havre on the Channel, Bourdeaux on the Western Ocean,
Marsielles on the Mediterranean, Strasbourg on the Ger-
man, and Lisle on the Belgian frontier. Some of the sub-
sidiary branches, connecting the different parts of the coun-
try with these principal lines, are to be left to:private enter-
prise. The Minister of Commerce and Public Works,
has lost no time in commencing this grand undertaking ;
contracts for the execution of parts of the work, have al-
ready been tendered and accepted. The French Ministers
do not sleep on their posts.
A glance at the map of Europe will show how admi-
rably this enlightened project combines the advantages of
external and internal communication. How wisely, also, is
the distinction drawn between that which may be safely left
to individual speculation, and;that which it is the duty of the
Government to take upon itself as the guardian of the na-
tional interests ! The Government having no other object
in view than the advancement of those interests, will lay
no heavier charges on its roads than are absolutely necessary
to pay a moderate interest for the money expended on
them, while at the same time those obstructions which the
folly or caprice of individual speculators might throw in
the way of the public convenience will be effectually pre-
vented on the great lines of communication.
It would have been a happy thing for this country
if our Government had, in conformity with our often
repeated warnings, anticipated that of France in making
our principal railroads a national undertaking ; we '
hope, however, it is not too late to follow its ex-
ample. The evil consequences of the omission have
already begun to develope themselves. In the late pro-
ceedings of the Birmingham Railway Company, we see an
instance of the danger to which the interests of the com-
munity are exposed when their protection is delegated to
private persons. This Company, having obtained from
Parliament privileges so great as to enable them to monopo-
lize the conveyance of passengers on the great northern
road, now turn round upon their creators, and say, " we will
not allow our road to be used by Sunday travellers. The road
is our's, and we will do as we like with our own." This is
the plain English of the resolution, for which proprietors
in that concern holding between three and four thousand
shares, voted ; and the resolution actually passed, if it has
any meaning, speaks nearly the same language. It con-
fers upon a majority of the Directors the power of
putting a stop to Sunday travelling whenever they please.
The stoppage may not take place immediately, but the
party who are driving at this object, if they are not
coerced by the high hand of the Legislature, will never
rest till they have accomplished it. This we cannot doubt,
knowing as we do that the perseverance of the saints in
their endeavours to elongate the countenances and abridge
the comforts of her MAJESTY'S subjects, is one of their most
marked and mischievous characteristics.
This conduct on the part of the London and

Birmingham Railway Company, we consider as emi-
nently deserving of public reprobation. It is a com-
plete breach of faith with the public, and the more
to be condemned because it is attempted to be
cloaked under a religious garb. We ask those stick-
lers for the religious observance of the Sunday whe-
ther, if they had openly stated, on applying to Parliament

for their Bill, that it was their determination to
put a stop to Sunday travelling on the Railroad, they
would have obtained it ? They know that they would
not have had the most distant chance of succeed-
ing. How unworthy—how despi,:,able, then, is it now—

when the Railroad is on the eve of being com-
pleted, for the first time to moot a point of so much
importance. But let not the pious shareholders flatter them-
selves that they will be able to contend either against the
feelings of the country or the will of the Legislature.
The same power that created can annihilate them. And
this must be their fate, should they ever proceed to the
extremity of excluding any who are inclined to travel on
Sunday, from the use of the railroad. In such a case, we
hesitate not to say that it will be the duty of the Legisla-
ture to interfere between the proprietors and the public ;
and, if no other means be found to bring the scruples
of the one and the convenience of the other into
harmony, to take possession of the railway on behalf of
the public, giving the Shareholders of course a proper remu-
neration for their interest in the property. This they may per-
haps call an arbitrary and unjust proceeding. Were it so, they
at least would have no right to complain of it. But in fact
there would be nothing either arbitrary or unjust in it. It
would, in sober truth, be nothing more than acting
on the very same principle on which the privileges
of this and other similar companies have been
granted namely, the public good. This is the only
ground upon which it is even pretended that such Com-
panies have any claim upon the Legislature. When,
therefore, the privileges thus granted are abused and per-
verted from their professed object, the very reason for
which they were given demands that they should be re-
claimed.

With respect to the religious part of this question, it
could easily be shown that the stopping up of a railway on
Sundizy would really occasion a hundred times more of
what these bigots call Sabbath breach than would be com-
mitted, were it open as on other days ; but this our
space will not allow us to do at present ; nor indeed is it

necessary. We shall only remark, that the Jewish law,
with all its ceremonial rigour, permitted the inno-
cent recreation of the people on the Sabbath-day.
A Sabbath-day's journey was allowed ; and though it
was a short one, it involved more personal labour than does
travelling on a railroad from London to Birmingham.
Let us, in our endeavours to be religious, take care that
we be not righteous " overmuch ;" and when we are anxious
to keep the Sabbath—if we must again have the yoke of
Jewish bondage fixed upon our necks—let us never forget
that the Author of our religion has taught that even
Jews were bound to consider that " the Sabbath was wade
for man, and not man for the Sabbath."
We had intended to make some remarks on the convey-
ance of the mails by railroads, but we have neither time nor

space to say more at present, than that it ought to be a con-
dition imposed on every Railway Company, that they shall
convey the Mails free of all expence to the public. We
fear we shall have something to say to the London and
Birmingham Railway Company on this subject also.

Letters and papers from Madrid to the 25th ult. have
been received. On the 2.2 d Senor IsTuarz returned to
the capital, and after an animated debate in the Cortes,
was permitted to take his seat in the Chamber of Deputies
a ono of the national representatives. Who shall say
after this that the principles of Liberal Government are
understood in Spain? The men who only a few months
ago conspired against the Constitution—who preferred
exile to its adoption—now encircle the Constitutional throne
in the quality of Legislators ! CoßDovi declared by the
national voice a traitor to liberty and his Sovereign ;
TOREN°, convicted by the Report of a Committee of the
Chamber of having accepted, in concert with the Regent,
four millions of rials as a bribe for signing the Almaden
Mines' contract ; MARTINEZ DE LA ROSA, who perilled
the safety of the nation for an abstract political dogma ;
and IsTuarz, who would have voted for garolling Serjeant
GARCIA and all who took an active part in proclaim.
ing the Constitution—such are the men who now
covertly direct the destinies of Spain. As for Count
OPALIA and his colleagues, they are mere puppets in the
hands of the returned exiles. TonENo manages them as
he pleases, in the hope that the day is fast approaching
when the national prejudices, as he calls them, will be so
smoothed down as to permit his resumption of the office of
President of the Council. The Chamber of Deputies is
crowded with unprincipled adventurers who aim only at
their own aggrandizement, and with noisy demagogues
who secretly delight in the continuance of a rebellion
from whence only they derive their political import-
ance. These men babble of liberty, while they se-
cretly lend themselves to distract the Councils of those
who would establish it on a firm basis. They are united by
no bond of patriotic affection—they are swayed by no great
principle of exalted action—they are influenced by no com-
mon impulse but that which centres in the sordid aggran.