The Sun.
London, England, 1836-12-27 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 27, 1836.

true economist, resolved the question, whether he
ought tc relieve him.—Morning Herald.
Ireland is, and is likely to remain, the political
field of battle for the British empire. The affairs of
that distracted country, and the troubles incessantly
reproduced by the heartless and greedy faction which
devours her, have usurped a frightful portion of the
labours and anxieties of the Legislature during the three
last sessions. Nor are those troubles about to termi-

nate, but the reverse ; they are advancing to a crisis, of
which no man living can dare to calculate the results.
The rebel association, whatever name or mask it may
assume, is in substance nothing less than a traitorous
and rebel Parliament, which any loyal, wise and deter-
mined Minister would long ago have summoned the
Imperial Parliament to dispose of. This focus of revo-
lution has hitherto well served the purposes of him
who devised and framed it. All evil to the monarchy '
originates there, and is thence dispersed to the remotest
hamlets of the island. All the chiefs of the rebel con-
spiracy there display themselves in panoply of sedition,
and dictate plans of warfare against the Constitution to
their vassals both in Ireland and at Whitehall. Mr.
Sheil, the besmeared with dirty flattery by Solicitor-
General Woulfe, and released from the scowling
courtesy and fawning malice of O'Connell, who
had previously departed for the south, made his
appearance on the rebellion stage last Thursday,
and delivered a speech in character, which we re-
commend to the reader's notice. Some passages
in the discourse of this learned associator bore re-

ference to the Poor Law question, of which, amids
ostentatious and voluble professions of an anxious
wish to see some relief for the poor of Ireland pro-
vided by the Legislature, he nevertheless contrived to
move and carry the postponement for three weeks
—that is, considering the near approach of the
31st of January, the adjournmeet sine die. The
learned gentleman managed this manoeuvre with as
much slippery dexterity as his master and secret per-
secutor could have done. He played the false game
of the absent Agitator, and gave the poor laws the
" go by ;" but let us look a little into the morality of
his argument, riot forgetting the prudence. Mr. Sheil
admits that there are " millions starving " in Ireland,
yet condemns as rank " folly " the giving precedence
to " the theories with which a poor law is con-
nected, over topics of immediate, pressing, and per-
manent need." Now, after a confession that there are
millions of his poor countrymen actually " starving,"
the English public will be curious to know how it
happens that an Irish patriot and landholder, the first
of which Mr. Sheil proclaims himself to be, and the
second the parson of his parish has proved him to be—
how this double debtor to the poor of Ireland ventures
to dissuade a whole assembly of regenerators like him-
self, from considering at the moment, and on the spot,
the most effectual means of saving the lives of the poor
by reducing the amount of famine—how he dares to
regard any measures, let their object be what it may,
as comparable for " immediate, pressing, and per-
manent necessity," to the clothing of naked and the
feeding of famished human creatures ; and lastly, what
is the description of measures thus paramount to the
eternal obligations of charity, love, and mercy? It is
obvious, then, from the whole tenor of Mr. Sheil's
address, that he is any thing but a protector of the
unhappy poor of Ireland, that he deprecates the
practice of beneficent patriotism as much as he does
discussions upon the "theory" of poor laws, and that
he talks the common place, and treads the beaten path
of miserable, huckstering, faction. Instead of adminis-
tering to the wants of the poor, what does he tell his but
half-consenting hearers ? Why, that the Irish Church
Bill and the Popish Corporation Bill are the grand
measures by which the fate of parties—not a word
about the fate of the starving poor—but (the fate) of
brawling parties, is to be decided. Now, what will
either the taking away the tithes from the Protestant
clergy, or the granting corporate power to the Popish
priests, do for the " starving poor of Ireland ?"
We wish the poor themselves to see what a pack
of lowminded hypocrites and impostors are raising
this outcry, on the base pretence that they care
a single straw about the " people of Ireland,"
who are for ever at their tongues' ends. Mr.
Sheil recurs to his rhetorical flourishes, and bids
his rebel associates mind the " registrations" in the
several counties—to spend money for the registration
of votes on behalf of popular candidates, and whom
it would be cruel hard to put to any expense for
their own elections—and above all things he reminds
the association, that at the proper time and place
a modicum of the rebel rent should be sent down to
Tipperary, to assist himself and his colleagues there,
by reason that they were both in too narrow circum-
stances to pay their parish clergyman his tithe until
compelled to it by legal process ! " Sir," says Mr.
Shiel, " the question is, shall the Whigs remain
in office, or shall Lord Mulgrave be superseded ?"
&c., &c. That is, in Mr. Sheil's calculation, the
question of " more immediate, pressing, and permanent
need," than any matter concerning the preservation
of 2,000,000 wretched, starving creatures from de-
struction. Now, we are very sure that Mr. Sheil
spoke what he thought and felt in assigning the pre-
cedency, before all other conceivable questions, to that
of " who shall be in office ?" because it is a question
which, if report says true, the Learned Gentleman
fancies may, ere long, affect himself pretty closely.
Unless the insinuations of certain Whig whisperers be
altogether calumnious, the Learned Member for Tip-
perary is not in the happiest or most cordial vein of
feeling towards the office-dispensers of the rump.
And why should he ? He is still to be provided
for. He is sore, but not desponding. Hope still
lingers at the bottom of his casket—that is, on con-
dition that there be no change of Ministry. Who,
therefore, can deny with the least show of rea-
son, that to Mr. Richard Sheil the question of
questions is, " Whether the Whigs shall remain in
office ?" But to the " people of Ireland," to the
" starving millions," we pray the learned aspirant to
explain of what manner of importance it is that the
" Whigs should remain in office ?" What benefit
did the Whigs ever yet confer upon the " starving
millions" of Ireland ? What has Mr. Sheil's
master ever done for them, but to rob them ? What
has Mr. Sheil himself ever done for them, but strive
to humbug them ? What is his attempt to shirk the
Poor Laws, but a manoeuvre by which he sells the
starving
.people to the Whigs, and is credited to the
amount in the Ministerial ledger of Lord Morpeth ?
But, quoth the Learned Member for Tipperary, " The
Municipal and Church Bills must be brought for-
ward almost immediately after the opening of the
session, and if the Lords throw out the Bills, as they
will do beyond a doubt, a dissolution is inevitable."
Say you so, Mr. Sheil ? Then what a vile and paltry
game is this with which you and your Whig rump pa-
trons (that are to be) threaten to insult the country.
The only hope or prospect you offer the gaping multi-
tude is, that a lot of bills which to them are not
worth sixpence will be brought into Parliament for
the sake of being kicked out of it by the House of
Lords, on which you are to dissolve the Parliament !
Let us assure you, Mr. Sheil, that your unloved
Whigs will not dissolve the present Parliament. Fur-
thermore we assure you, that nothing would yield the
Conservatives of the empire such ample food` for ex-
ultation, as an attempt to dissolve the Parliament by
the Whigs. Again we take leave to assure Mr Sheil,
that the Whigs will make no such attempt, save in
the full and confident expectation that their proposal
will be laughed at by the proper authority, just object
to a scheme of annexation, which, leaving a few prizes
to the scholar and the divine, shall impose upon the
remaining prebends individually the care of poor and
populous parishes. We think, too, that the chapters
might with perfect propriety devote, by an arrangement
among themselves, a certain portion of their incomes
to the general purposes of augmentation. But what
we do protest against, and what we entreat the paro-
chial clergy to protest against also, is the overthrow of
that order in the Church which is to the Episcopate
what the House of Lords is to the Crown—its main
support and bulwark. Will the Globe find that there is
any difference of opinion now between us and our respected
contemporary the Standard ?—Times.

LAND TAX INEQUALITY.—The paragraph in-
serted in our paper of Saturday, headed " Land Tax," was
taken from a pamphlet entitled " The Land Tax, its Ori-
gin, Progress, and Inequality, stated in. a Letter to the
Chancellor of the Exchequer, with a view to its equalization.
By a Citizen of Weigtrainater."

GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY.

We extract the following interesting particulars of the
above undertaking, from the Railway Magazine for the
present month :-
1. DIRECTIONS OF THE LINE AND PLACES APPROACHED
BY IT.—Commencing near the western extremity of Oxford-
street, London, the line passes by Acton, Ealing, Hanwell
(crossing the Brent by a viaduct), to Southall (through the
cattle market), within 23- miles of Uxbridge (to which place
a branch is projected, as well as to Colnbrook, Staines, and
Egham), through Slough, and within 1 of Eton and
Windsor, through Salt Hill and Maiden-head, within five
miles of Marlow, of Henly, and of Wokingham, to
Reading, a distance of 34f miles, where the communication
would be effected with Newbury, Marlborough, and the
whole of the south of Berkshire. _ .

From Reading the line takes rather a northerly direction,
passing within three miles of Wallingford, and through Dud-
cot, where it will be met by a branch railway of 4i miles to
Abingdon, and 91 to Oxford. The main line then pro-
ceeds westward, within two miles of Wantage, 31 miles of
Faringdon, four of Highworth, and I of Levindon, where
it will be joined by the "Cheltenham and Great Western
Union Railway," connecting together Cirencester, Stroud,
Cheltenham, and Gloucester ; the latter place being the
intermediate point for railway communication between South
Wales and the metropolis. From Levindon, the line, taking
a south-west course, passes within half a mile of Wotton
Basset, six miles of Malmsbury, and six of Calne, through
Chippenham, with branches to Melksham and Devizes,
Bradford and Trowbridge, through Bath to Bristol, termi-
nating at the depot in Temple-meads, a large area of nearly
20 acres, adjoining the floating harbour. There will also be
depots at Bath, Levindon, Reading, and some other places
along the line. That at Bath consists of 41 acres, the
Company having power to take as much more if necessary.
At Bath a branch is already projected, from the coal fields '
of Somersetshire, and at Bristol the line is met by the
" Coal-pit Heath Railway," which will bring the coal of the
Gloucestershire collieries—a constantly increasing traffic—
direct to the Great Western Railway.
The communication westward and south from Bristol
will be continued by the almost perfectly level line of the
‘• Bristol and Exeter Railway" (for which two extensive
contracts are already taken) to the numerous rising wa-
tering-places on the Severn, and through Bridgwater,
Taunton, Wellington, and Tiverton, to Exeter ; from whence,
Exmouth, Dawlish, Teignmouth, Torquay, and other places
of resort in the south of Devon, are easily accessible. The
surveys are also made, and an act will be applied for in the
ensuing session, for a continuation of the Exeter Railway to
Plymouth.
2. GRADIENTS AND CuavEs.—Considerable improve-
ments have been effected in laying out the line since the
Act of Incorporation was obtained ; all tending to the ac-
quisition of the most perfect levels, and the most econo-
mical application of steam power. For this purpose Mr.
Brunel, the engineer, has determined to concentrate a
great part of the rise within a comparatively short space,
by means of two inclined planes, upon which assistant
power can be employed, if necessary, aad the remainder
of the line, thus left free, to be worked by engines of less
weight and expense than would otherwise be practicable.
There is but one summit level,* which is about 76 miles
from London, and consequently only about 18 miles from
the centre of the whole line. The summit is 253 feet above
the London depot, and 275 feet above the Bristol depot.
From London to the summit the line rises gradually to
Maidenhead, Reading, and the point of junction with the
Oxford branch, by very easy gradients, nowhere exceeding
4 feet per mile, or I in 1320, and generally under this.
This is a distance of 52 miles, and the part upon which the
greatest traffic may be expected.
From this point to the summit level at Levindon, the
line continues to rise gradually, without undulations, and
with a maximum inclination of six feet per mile, or 1 in
880. At Swindon, the line to Stroud, Gloucester, and Chel-
tenham branches off.
From the summit level to Bath the line descends by two
inclined planes at Wotton Bassett and at Box ; the inter-
mediate gradients nowhere exceed 6 feet per mile (1 in 880).
The inclined planes are both perfectly straight, and the in-
clination lin 106, or 50 feet per mile.t. The length of the
first, is 1 mile 30 chains ; of the second, 2 miles 40 chains.
Upon the latter, occurs the Box tunnel, which is the only
(but unavoidable) disadvantageous feature upon the line.—
From Bath to Bristol the descent is one continued gradient
of 4 feet per mile, or 1 in 1,320. Thus, upon the whole
line there will be—

Miles Furlongs
Level, or not exceeding 4 feet per mile 63 4
Above 4, and not exceeding 6 feet per mile 50 1
Inclined planes

'Total ll7 4
and whilst the whole line (with the exception of the inclines)
may practically be considered level, it happens that 4 sths
of the traffic will be carried upon that part of it where the
maximum gradient does not exceed 4 feet per mile.t
The curves are in general very slight, chiefly of 4,5, or
6 miles radius. Mr. Brunel considers that even a mile ra-
dius is not desirable except at the entrance to a depot,
where the speed of the engines is always greatly slackened ;
and except in these instances, the only deviation from his
rule which he has admitted, is in the curve, about a quarter
of a mile below one of the inclines, where the radius is
three-quarters of a mile, and not on a level, and entirely in
deep cutting.
3. EXCAVATIONS, &c.—The total amount of cuttings be-
tween Bristol and London (including the branches to
Bradford and Trowbridge, and the excavations for the tun-
nels) was stated, in the evidence before Parliament, at
9,750,156 cubic yards ; but this amount will be rather in-
creased, though not in any considerable degree, by the im-
provements effected in the levels, and by the substitution
of open cuttings for tunnels in one or two places 4
The deep cuttings and embankments are all of moderate
extent, and balance each other with sufficient exactness.
The general run of the deep cutting is from thirty to forty
feet, and the embankment twenty-five to thirty feet. There
are points where it is higher ; but those are not frequent,
and only for a very short space, dropping off rapidly "down
to nothing."
According to the Parliamentary plans, there would be
seven tunnels upon the line, amounting together to four
miles fifty-four chains, but one of the longest of these has
been dispensed with, and it is expected that an arrangement
will he effected to substitute open cutting for another of
them, which was only proposed to avoid injuring an orna-
mental property. If this change be effected, there will be
no tunnel (except that at Box) between London and Bath.
This (at Box) is the longest tunnel upon the line,
being nearly one mile and three quarters, but the time
occupied in passing through it will not exceed six mi-
nutes at the slowest rate of the engines. Between Bath
and Bristol there are four tunnels ; one of .528 yards, one
of 1,012 yards, one of 1:32 yards, and one of 435 yards. The
three last have the drift carried already completely through,
and are proceeding with rapidity. All the tunnels will
have a roadway of thirty feet wide, and be from twenty-five
to thirty feet in height. Two of them might altogether
have been dispensed with, had not the wish to avoid injury
to private residences interfered.
4. COMMENCEMENT AND PROGRESS OF THE WORKS.—
The Act received the Royal assent on the last day of
August, 1835. The letting of the contracts for works
commenced on the 26th day of November following, and
since that period contracts have been entered into on satis-
factory terms, as compared with the engineer's estimates, for
nearly forty miles of the line, to the amount of upwards of
650,0001. The works are now in active progress between
London and Reading, Bath and Bristol, and at the Box
tunnel, and the line is marked out, and the preliminary
steps for preparing the contracts of the principal works in
the intermediate portion are completed.
It is expected that the line will be completed from Lon-
don to Maidenhead in the autumn of 1837, from Bristol to
Bath in the spring of 1838, from Maidenhead to Reading
• Some small intermediate undulations occur, but so trifling
in extent as hardly to be perceptible in a section on the Par-
liamentary scale, and in no way affecting the correctness of
the above a s a general view of the line.
t " The descent of 1 in 107 is considerably less than the
descent from the houses at the corner of Parliament-street to
the Parliament Houses; it is about half as steep as Burlington
Arcade ; and exactly the same as the Lowther Arcade ; and
therefore, as regards any appearance of steep descent, there
can be none."—Mr. Brunel's Evidence before the House of
Lords, June, 1835, p. 93.
t In his evidence before the House of Lords, Mr. G. Ste-
venson stated that " he knew of no railroad of such an extent
with such advantageous levels."—Evidence on Great Western
Railway Bill, p. 276.
Mr. Locko and Mr. Robert Stevenson gave testimony to
the same effect :—" The lower the maximum can be kept upon
a railway the better, because the power of the engines, or, in
other words, the load that the same engines can draw, will be
governed by the inclinations over which they have to take that
load at any one part of the line." This is the principle on
which Mr. Brunel has laid down the Great Western Line.—
Ib. p. 92.
¶ The proportionate quantity of cutting upon the Great
Western Line, and other railways, shows that the Great Western
passes over an easy country. The London and Southampton
Railway, up to Basingstoke, and their (once proposed) line on
Bristol, averages about 200,000 yards a mile ; the London and
Birmingham averages 110,000 ; the Liverpool and Manchester
100,000 ; and the Great Western 78 or 80,000.—See Evi-
dence before the House of Lords on the Great Western Rail-
way Bill, p 144.
§ The Great Western Line is about 6 miles longer than the
London and Birmingham Line, and it will have about .1- mile
less tunnelling on the whole. The longest tunnel on the Bir-
mingham line is 1 mile; and on the Liverpool and Manches-
ter Line there are now two long tunnels ; the firs', 11 mile in
length, having an inclination of 1 in 48, through which all the
goods pass : the second, also 1+ mile long, 18 feet high, and
25 feet wide, with an inclination of about 1 in 100, to
.carry
passengers into the contre of the town.