The Sun.
London, England, 1840-11-26 00:00:00

ROYAL ACCOUCHEMENT.

The following anecdote connected with the birth and
infancy of Geor e 111. is related by his biographer. It
marnot s applicability at the present
tiOte :—" The Kin was a seven months' child, and
Worn that circumstance so weakly at the period of his
birth that certain apprehensions were entertained that
it would be impossible to rear him. It was in conse-
quence thought advisable to waive the strict etiquette
hitherto maintained of having for the Royal infant a
nobly descended nurse, in favour of one of the middle
ranks of life—the fine, healthy, It-ash-coloured wife of
a gardener, probably the head gardener of one of the
palaces. This person, besides the recommendation of
an excellent constitution and much experimental skill,
characterised by qualities which so endeared her
to the King, that his attachment towards her never
during her existence experienced the slightest di-
minution. She possessed great quickness of
feeling, much goodness of heart, with a disposi-
tion both disinterested and candid. The two former of
these qualities appear to have instantly opened her affec-
tions to the nursling offered to her care, not, however,
from pride at the idea of its being a babe of Royal blood,
but from the maternal kindness excited while contem-
plating the delicate little being whose frail tenure on
life she was confident, under her :management, would
become strong and permanent. These feelings caused
her, at the first proposal, cheerfully to undertake the
anxious charge ; but when it was made known to her
that, according to the Court etiquette, the Royal
infant could not ba allowed to sleep with her,
from an etiquette so cold, and in the pre-
sent case so likely, in her opinion, to prove preju-
dicial, she instantly revolted, and in terms both
warm and blunt thus expressed herself :—' Not sleep
with me ! Then you may nurse the boy yourselves.'
To no compromise, or rather reasoning, offered would
she listen, but continued resolutely to refuse to take
charge of the Royal infant if bound to observe a cere-
mony which no argument could make her think other-
wise than alike unnatural and unhealthy. This refusal
of an office which many persons would have been am-
bitious of filling under any restrictions whatever, upon
motives, too, so purely disinterested, convinced those
with whom she was in debate of her conscientious belief,
that unless the infant Prince were entrusted to her
sole management, she must, in accepting the charge,
engage to act in opposition to her own judgment, and
thus sacrifice what she considered her duty to him.
Influenced by this conviction, they properly represented
the affair to the powers by whom they were employed,
in consequence of whibh the point of Court ceremony
was conceded to her."

MONOPOLIES OF RAILWAYS.

Messrs. Pickford, the carriers, have moved the
Court of Queen's Bench for a mandamus against the
Grand Junction Railway Company, commanding them
to convey their goods at the same rates and times as
they convey the goods of other parties, in conformity
with a clause in the Railway Act prohibiting favouritism
in the conveyance of either goods or passengers.
In this proceeding the public have a deep interest.
Messrs. Pickford's complaint, however, is only an item
in the list of grievances, and re fear that there is much
to be done which cannot be effected without legislative
enactment. The powers with which these railroad com-
panies have been vested are so immense, that their
misuse (and; there is no restriction against misuse) may
cause a complete stoppage of all commercial inter-
course. We instance the Grand Junction line as one
on which, instead of the public being accommodated in
proportion as the Company profits by them, they are
daily deprived of some advantage according as the an-
nual dividend becomes greater and greater. Only a
few weeks back the fares were raised ; and this week,
as we see by an advertisement, we have been deprived
of another and a most important advantage. The fol-
lowing announcement shows how :