The Sun.
London, England, 1849-08-31 00:00:00

Allt

LONDON, FRIDAY, AUGUST 31, 1849.

Poor KENNEY little corjectured that one of the
most felicitous of his farcical characters was destined
to furnish a prototype to the Sabbatarians. Yet so
it is, that Jeremy Diddler has given a hint to the
Scottish Pharisees. On the commencement of this
hum'ougging movement for rendering steam-engines
moral and railroads generally orthodox, it was re-
marked by a no less virtuous or enlightened man
than Dr. CANDLISH, that the ultra-Sunday conserv-
ing directors were decidedly long-headed; and our
contemporary the Examiner has very judiciously
remarked that to be long-headed is syno
nimous with being cunning. Now, how far
cunning is compatible with the propagation of
real piety, or with the dissemination of a truly reli
gious observance of Christianity, we leave to the deci-
sion of the common sense of the United Kingdom. It
has been observed by the distinguished author whose
pseudonyms are variously Titmarsh and Yellowplush,
that the vocabulary of the Anglo-Saxon language has
been recently augmented by many expressions not re-
cognised by our standard bibliographers, yet, neverthe-
less, interpolated in the latest editions of their dic-
tionaries. Among these accessions to the English
tongue is a word which we may be allowed to
apply to the conduct of the directors of the
Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway, from the circum-
stance of its being the only epithet really descriptive
of the nature of their proceedings. Indeed the course
pursued by these would-be northern stars of morality
could not be characterised by any other term than that
of a glaring and impudent dodge. A dodge it unques-
tionably is ; and no artful dodge either, but a dodge so
egregious for its transparency, that it could
not but have called up a blush to the by
no means susceptible cheek of that very respectable
young gentleman, Mr. JouN DAWKINS, a personage
immortalised by the familiar soubriquet of the
"Artful Dodger." The trick to which we are calling
the attention of the public is one played off upon the
shareholders in the line already particularised, the
line running between Glasgow and Edinburgh. Or
the occasion of a recent meeting of the proprietors,
the long-vexed question of Sunday travelling was
again brought under discussion, arrangements having
been made for its final settlement. To this end
proxies were distributed among the shareholders, the
directors not being contented with submitting to
them the simple propositions for and against, but
adding to these another class of suffrages.
namely those for " leaving the matter in the hands
of the directors." The result of this ingenious
but disreputable contrivance may be readily men-
tioned. When the numbers came to be scrutinized
there were found to be 7,565 votes for the opening of
the line on Sundays, and only 5,836 votes against the
scheme of Sunday travelling—leaving a majority of
proxies amounting to 1,729 in favour of the system
opposed by the Sabbatarians. According to all hones'
principles of action the only conclusion to be arrived
at is, that these exemplary sticklers for a periodical
stagnation on the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway
w ere beaten on their own ground. But, no. Recourse
was bad to one of the most pitiful and rascally
dodges that could well have been adopted. The
third class of proxies numbering in all just 1,839, the
proxies (it will be remembered) for leaving the
matter in the hands of the directors, were resorted to
in the emergency—in the event of which the plan
had evidently been concocted—and by clubbing these
neutral votes with the minority of votes against Sun-
day travelling, the tables were unfairly and illegally
turned upon the majority of the shareholders, a false
majority of 241 being declared to stand on the side
cf the Sabbatarians. Now, we mean to assert that
anything more paltry, more mean, more shameful, or
more monstrously in violation of all the laws of
justice has never been witnessed on the part of any
class of political or commercial shuffiers, much less
on the part of shufflers acting foorsooth in the holy
name of religion. The truth is, that the Scottish
public, keen and vigilant Es they are proverbially,
have been clearly taken in ; and loud as may,
a
wi.l, a•i must be their indignation at the impudent
do age, by which they have been victimized, these
pious and Christian directors will stick their tongues
in their cheeks and laugh at the credulity through
which their fraudulent machinations have proved suc-
cessful. As a correspondent of the Scotsman very
happily remarks, the proceeding is not only as
knavish as that of the adept at the vulgar pastime of
pitch-and-toss, calling out to his antagonist " heads
I win, tails you lose"—but it bears a striking re-
semblance to the conduct of the fisherman,
who, on dividing the result of his day's fishing,
with his negro companion, exclaimed with so much

apparent generosity—" I take the shoulders and you I
take the tail, or you take the tail and I take the
shoulders, anything you like !" After this flagrant
tact of fraudulence, however, we are sati:fied that a
cautious race like the people of Scotland will never
again be gulled by an imposture of a like kind.
coming on the plea of religion, and in the garb of
Christianity. When the screen fell, discovering the
" little milliner," otherwise " Lady Teazle by all
that's damnable," Joseph Surface was not in a more
contemptible or more pitiable predicament than these
very sedate and highly moral directors, who on the
score of conserving the sobriety of the Sunday, break
through all the most sacred principles of honour, of
honesty, and of justice. Their hypocrisy proves to
be as empty as Yorick's skull—" and smells so
Paugh !"

" The evil that men do lives after them, the good
is oft interred with their bones." So said Melte
ANTONY ; but every rule has its exception. In this
present sear, in the middle of the nineteenth century,
in an age remarkable for its tendency to look forward
instead of to look back—at a period, moreover, when
royalty is at a discount—it is proposed to hold a
festival in honcur of a King who lived a thousand
years ago In' the year 849 ALFRED the GREAT
commenced his memorable existence at 'Wantage, in
Berkshire, and in the year 1849, at `Vantage, in
Berkshire, a jubilee is to take place to commemorate
that event. Utilitarians will doubtless find abundant
cause for derision in such an apparently useless cere-
mony ; but to those who, like ourselves, con-
sider the poetry of life as one of its most
essential and useful elements—useful as is the salt to
the sea, which it preserves perpetually pure—such an
event will possess a peculiar interest and a happy sig-
nificance. Of one thing there can be no doubt—King
ALFRED'S jubilee could not possibly have arrived at a
more appropriate time. Much of the fabulous is very
probably interwoven with the records of this great
man, yet, making every allowance for this probability,
ALFRED, in two distinct characters, claims not only
the admiration but the gratitude of posterity. Asa
Patriot, who, hoping against hope, and persevering in
resistance to apparently invincible foes, preserved the
nationality of his country and
his countrymen ; and, as a Governor,
thein,dvehpoenseduegniciet
his
ofb
his
ies nps
euorpi nl
eg, theA rightsßED, and pt
hr oe
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othe nhappinessglory
teenth as he did in the ninth century, may stand forth
an example to time-serving patriots and pseudo-
liberal rulers. The example is recalled to us at a sin-
gularly opportune moment. Never was Patriotism
more in need of the encouraging evidences of success-
ful perseverance, and seldom have Governments more
required a lesson in the art of popular administratitn.
Such encouragements and such lessons are afforded
by the history of ALFRED. When he led the forlorn
hope of Saxon independence that cause seemed
utterly desperate, and any expectation of success
the delusion of a madman. ALFRED, conscious
of the righteousness of his cause, never yielded
to despair; the Danes might hold dominion
throughout the length and breadth of the land, but
they never subdued that independent heart. In the
days of defeat and tribulation, as in the hour of vic-
tory, alone and a fugitive, or surrounded by loving
subjects, ALFRED was always more than a king—a
noble hearted and undaunted man. When he burnt '
the cakes by the cottage hearth, or when he divided
his lust loaf with the beggar, however humble his
occupation or forlorn his fortune, he cherished within
him a patience superior to persecution, and a hope
that would not be gainsaid. That patience and that
hope (as such inevitably will do) brought their re-
ward. Let Hungary take courage at the thought.
ALFRED is seated iii the throne of EGRERT, and now we
contemplate a new phase of his great character. Many
have, like him, appeared great in adversity, but few
have abided the more trying test of prosperity.
ALFRED, as a king, sought no inlividual glory,
neither did he seek pleasure, except the pleasure of
doing good. His kingly life was even more arduous
than his preceding career. His apportionment of his
time is well known. To enumerate the benefits
which ALFRED conferred upon his country would be.
to enumerate what are even now, after a thou
sand years, the chief objects of English pride,
and the chief bulwarks of English liberty.
Tradition, whether rightly or wrongly, trace.
up to ALFRED, as to their source, the principal
elements of our national greatness and glory. To
him we are indebted for our trial by jury, for
the establishment of our universities, for the
foundation of our naval empire, and a multitude of
as enduring and hardly less valuable benefits. But
whatever may have been the boons bequeaths d by this
;egislator, one thing is tolerably clear, he lived not
for himself but for his people. With a seemingly
instinctive sagacity, the people have appreciated this
fact. Their traditionary lore has rendered the name
of ALFRED immortal. Since the death of the Saxon
Monarch kings and dynasties have ruled over England
And passed away into comparative oblivion. The pages
of our history are occasionally illumined by the glory of
a Plantagenet, sullied by the iniquities of a Tudor,
or stained with the blood of a Stuart ; yet Stuarts,
and Tudors, and Plantagenets, and many more, have
4one by, and are remembered only in the transient
memorials of the historian, but no historian is re
quired for ALFRED ; his fame is perpetuated by
word of mouth. The peopib have cared for his
memory, who, King though he was, was the People's
friend. Here, again, is a lesson worthy of the study
of all who rule, be they Emperors, Kings, Presidents,
or Prime Ministers. How many of the Legislators
of 1849 will have a jubilee proposed in their honour
a thousand years hence ?