The Sun.
London, England, 1847-10-07 00:00:00

TILE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY RVENING, OCTOBER 7, 1847.

16 ; the Five per Cents., at 171; the Debt without
Interest, at 51 for paper; and the Coupons, at 14..

We have received the Paris papers of Tuesday.
The Univers publishes a letter from Rome of the
29th ult., announcing the evacuation of Ferrara by
the Austrian troops on the 25th ult. " That event,"
says the Univers, "is equivalent for Austria and her
allies to the loss of a pitched battle, and adds consi-
derably to the glory already acquired by the Sove-
reign PONTIFF. That peaceable victory guarantees
the independence of the powers, called in Europe
feeble and secondary, against the encroachments and
intervention of those called powerful and strong ; but
what affects us Catholics most deeply is, that it en-
sures the emancipation of the Church and frees it
from the guardianship and oppression of the great
European Colossi. We can now witness the result
of the crooked policy of M. GUIZOT and of his im-
prudent alliance with Austria. It has destroyed, as
regards Papacy, the traditions of several ages and
the ties of sympathy which united France with the
entire of Italy. Thus, the position of M. Rossi is
no longer tenable ; I have been assured that he has
obtained an unlimited leave of absence, and that he
will quit Rome in a few days. Prince ALBERT DE
BROGLIE, who lately arrived here with dispatches
from the French Government, departed almost im-
mediately afterwards for Florence."
The Constitutionnel, in the course of a long article
on the financial crisis, recommends the holders of
railway scrip to " hold on." It says—
"lf we examine the railways independently of the
present crisis, it does not appear that the bona fide
shareholder should feel any great alarm. In fact,
nothing has occurred to cause a real diminution in
the intrinsic value of the lines ; far from that, the
decline in the price of shares coincides with an in-
crease of receipts, which is so much the more re-
markable that it takes place in spite of the falling off
which has occurred in different branches of industry.
The receipts of the Orleans Railway during the first
three-quarters amount to 7,519,0001., being 811,000 f.
more than during the corresponding period of last
year. Those of the Rouen Railway have risen to
7,409,0001., being 1,400,0001. more. The section of
the Orleans Ind Tours Railway yielded last week
96,000 f. instead of 78,0001., which it produced during
the corresponding week of 1846. The receipts of the
Rouen and Havre Railway have been upwards of
2,000,000 f. for the first six months. The receipts of
the Northern Railway are continually on the increase;
its weekly returns have attained 400,000 f. ; the produce
of the first 9 months of the year amount to 10,792,0001.,
and it is probable that it will be 15,000,000 f. for the
whole year. This railway is now about to under-
take the conveyance of coal, which will be brought
from the frontier to Paris for 171. the ton. The early
opening of several sections of other railways is an-
nounced. One of the first will be that from Creil to
Compiegne. The line will be prolonged to St.
Quentin, but will not obtain its greatest traffic until
it be continued to Maubeuge. When the railway
from Charleroy to Erquelinnes shall be completed,
this line will be the veritable road from Paris to Cologne
and Germany, for it will be shorter by twenty-five
lea zues than than by Amiens, Valenciennes, and
Brussels. We shall also soon see opened a section of
the railway from Marseilles to Avignon, that which
is comprised between the Pas des Lanciers and the
Durance. This railway is one of those which have
suffered most severely from the reaction ; but the
opening of the line will probably restore confidence,
by showing that the traffic is sufficient to make up
fur the miscalculations which were made with respect
to the cost of its construction. The opening of the
second section of the Amiens to Boulogne line is
expected to take place towards the end of October.
There is, however, a part of it between Nesles and
Boutogne, 10 kilometres, which will have to be
served by omnibuses, and which will not be com-
pleted before next spring. It is to be hoped that the
Paris and Lyons Company will bi able to open the
section from Paris to Tonnerre, or at least a portion
of it, in the course of the next year. We are assured,
moreover, that the directors of the railway from
Montereau to Troyes have definitively fixed the
opening of the line for the Ist of April next."
The same journal announces that Reform banquets
are to take place at Cosne on the 17th instant, at
which M. MANUEL, Deputy for Nevers, will take
the chair, and at which M. DUTERGIER DE HALT..
RANNE, and several other members of the Chamber
of Deputies, are to be present ; at Blois, where two
hundred electors have already subscribed towards the
expenses ; and that in Franche Comte the Reformers
have determined to have a series of banquets. These
banquets are evidently causing great alarm to the
Government, as it is impossible to grapple with such
peaceful and legal assemblages ; but we once more
impress upon the Reformers of France the neces-
sity of continuing the admirable line of conduct
which they have hitherto pursued. Let no taunt,
no insult, no violence, ever induce them to break the
law—that the Government merely wants an excuse
to let loose upon them an armed soldiery, is evident
from the conduct which it has pursued at Lyons,
where, according to the Censeur de Lyons, the troops
employed to disperse some groups of curious persons,
who had assembled before the convent of St. Denis
in that city, had been supplied with ball cartridge,
and that cannon was ready to be employed at a mo-
ment's notice. " What," says the Censeur, "is to
be thought of a Government which has recourse to
musketry and cannon to disperse the smallest assem-
blage ?" It is in vain that the Ministerialists endea-
vour to sow discord in the ranks of the Reformers,
by endeavouring to produce a collision between the
exaltado and the moderate Reformers. All are agreed
that it is necessary, to use a phrase of O'CoNNELL's,
to go to Hounslow, and is is not because some de-
sire to go to Windsor, that those who intend to re-
main at Hounslow should refuse to journey in their
company. The following article from the National
shows how loyally (we use the word in its French
sense) the Republicans are acting in concert with the
more moderate Reformers:—

"Nothing, in our opinion," says the National,
"demonstrates better the importance and utility of
electoral banquets than the rage against, them by
which the Ministerial journals are inspired. The
abuse cast upon the honourabe citizens who take part
in them, the sarcasms poured forth on the speakers,
are all proofs of the uneasiness of the Court journali.
It was believed that France was for ever set asleep,
but her awaking proves how vain were the hopes
founded on her repose. We do not deceive ourselves
as to the bearing of the Reform meetings, nor do we
exaggerate their utility. We are aware that the
greater number of those who thus assemble still
maintain illusions in which we cannot participate.
They have, moreover, taken care to tell us that they
do not despair of our institutions. It is however,
incontestable that the necessity for obliging the
Government to resume a constitutional course, from
which it is deviating more and more every day, is
becoming more manifest amongst the privileged
classes. The sentiment which prevails amongst them
was clearly stated at Orleans. The men who
served as the organ of that party are above suspicion.
They belong, for the greater part, to the friends of
moderation, and their language derives a weight
from their personal position which cannot be
mistaken. For these reasons the embarrassment
of the Ministerial journals to find a reply to the at-
tacks coming from such a quarter is great. It is even
curious to compare the gross abuse of the Govern-
ment press with the language, no doubt warm, which
has provoked such fury. Truth has no need to bor-
row words of persuasion from the fish market, and
that abuse is not argument. In place of asserting
we are sufficiently accustomed in France to believe
alternately, with equal bad faith, that the country
takes no interest in political reform, and that Reform
banquets will throw France into confusion, it would
be better, in our opinion, to confess that those meet-
ings constitute a great fact to which attention should
be paid. It cannot be pretended to persuade men
endowed with any common sense that presidents of
the royal courts, deputies,
mayors, members of the
general councils, electors, all belonging to the class in
possession of power, assemble for the pure pleasure of
making speeches, or for that which would be still
more serious—to destroy public order and to
create confusion. Communism, we believe, was
not seated at the banquet of Chateau Rouge, or
of Strasburg, or of St. Quentin, or of Orleans;
or of Meaux.
It was the middle classes, re-
presented by electors, who spoke, and who sub-
stantiated their grievances and their wishes. At
what, then, is the Government alarmed ? Public

order is not imperilled, no party menaces any legiti-
mate interest, property and family count as many
defenders as guests at those banquets. Are there any
other interests exclusive of those fundamental bases

of our social organization which incur any danger ?
Let us have an explanation on that head. We have
nothing to learn ; but we should be glad, for the
edification of the country, to hear the system repudiate
its origin. It would be well that those who pretend
to represent the expression of the national will should
avow their hatred for the principle of the sovereignty
of the people. Their acts, during 17 years, have all
been directed with a view to acquire an exclusive
power, a particular action, independent of those rival
powers which constitute the representative system.
The government has been conducted with Cham-
bers as if they did not not exist. That was not
enough. The reasoning of the system goes further.