The Sun.
London, England, 1824-11-23 00:00:00

[TIIE TIMES.]

There will be found stated-in another part of
our Paper an account of a really prodigious rise
in the value of the shares of the Company esta-
blished for working the Mexican Mines—a rise
of from seventy pounds, the money hitherto paid,
to upwards of seven hundred pounds, a share.—
It is difficult to know how to address enthusiasm
of any kind ; and there may be an avaricious as
well as a religious enthusiasm ; yet extravagant
hopes are sure to end in disappointment. There
does not appear to us to be any other fraud prac-
tised in this affair than that which the specula-
tors practise on themselves, or each other; for, a
report having sprung up that mounds of golden
ore had been discovered on the surface of the
earth, in some part or other of Mexico, that re-
port was officially and very properly contradict.
ed by Mr. Taylor, the Secretary to the Society.
" Should you some coast be laid on,
" Where gold and diamonds grow ;—&e. &c."
says Gay in his opera. But " the pity of it is,"
that if gold and diamonds grew in vast abund-
ance, the possessors of them would not be rich.
And with respect to this speculation of working
the Mexican Mines, inasmuch as it is a specula.
tion which has industry for its basis, it has our
approbation—we hope it will succeed : but
should the precious metals be found readily and
in great quantities, those very circumstances would
so diminish their value in Europe, that the specu-
lators must still be content. with moderate gains.
We entreat our countrymen, therefore, to pause
a little, and not to become the dupes of their own
imaginations. This seven-hundred-pound rise
will, we have'no doubt, ere long, have a propor-
thmate fall.; and then, perhaps, an enterprise
really advantageous may suffer unduly, from !ts
proving inadequate to satisfy—not the reasonable

Ayes, but—the absurd fancies of those embarked

in it. When we speak of the possibility of this
enterprise proving advantageous, we mean only
to the speculators themselves; for with respect to
Europe at large, the only effect of an increased cir•
culatieg medium, whether by the addition of gold
or paper, would be, that all would be obliged
to give a great proportion of that medium for the
articles purchased—that is, the price of saleable
commodities would be nominally raised.

.Such is the mania for speculation in the shares
of the companies for working the mines of Mexi-
co, that those of the Real del Monte were sold
yesterday at an advance of nearly 7001. a share,
on the sum paid by the original subscribers. The
shares of the other companies, entitled 46 the
Anglo-Mexican," and the " United Mexican As-
sociations," are at a premium of about 301. a
share.--(lbid.)

[MORNING HERALD.]
Saturday's Paris Papers arrived last night.
One of them (the Constitutionnel) mentions a
gross and foolish abuse of a system vicious enough
of itself—that of passports in France. A French
subject cannot, in the very country of his birth,
' _

1118 ancestors, and his alleiiance, travel from one
district to another without a passport, which is
obtained in the first instance, and subsequently
inspected, with much formality and delay.—

it is easy to see how this must embarrass
commercial transactions, and it is upon per-
sons travelling for, commercial purposes that
it is most rigorously exercised, especially
against coMmeicial agents going abroad.—
The bankers of Paris have, of course, fre-
quent occasion to dispatch Couriers or tra-
vellers to foreign countries. Recently these
couriers have 'been stopped by the Commissary
of Police at a certain distance, and letters opened
and read.—The bankers conceived this an out-
rage, even on the passport system, and made' re.
presentations to the Director of Police—a person
named Fronchet—a person unknown and un-
talked of but in this office. Ile gave this reply
—" The Government only has .the right of send-

ing couriers, and it is only by sufferance, for the
InterestS of commerce, that, the bankers are al-
lowed to do so. These couriers, therefore-, must
be subject to examination." Sometimes the Com-
missaries of Police find the letters long, and de-
tain the bearers some days. One of these being
thus detained, remonstrated with the "great
,little man," and was, by way of answer,
thrown into prison, to kill his time more
agreeably. There is' here a double oppression
and abuse—the opening of the letters, and the
delay,, which completely break up com-
mercial confidence and calculation. Uninterrupted
expedition is of the first importance in the spe-
culations and transactions of trade, particularly
at a moment of general tranquillity and inter-
course between nations. The violation of the

secresy of.his correspondence places the merchant
completely at the mercy of the agent of the
police, who may easily and obviously by tempt-
ed to betray it for his advantage. This M.
Fronchet is said to be a protege of the Jesuits,
who had him appointed to his situation—and at
their instigation he is stated to employ his power
over letters and persons going abroad. In most
countries of Europe this order has contrived to
obtain a footing once more, and by worming it-
self as usnal into the confidence of Courts and
Cabinets, exercises a secret and mysterious police
over the whole Continent.

[NEW TIMES.]
The proposal to form a Rail Road from Man-
chester to Liverpool will no doubt engage the
attention of the Legislature in the course of the

ensuing Session of Parliament. Adam Smith
observes, that " good roads, canals, and rivers,
by diminishing the ex pence of carriage, put the
remote parts of the country more nearly on a
level with those in the neighbourhood of a town.
They are, upon that account (says he), the
greatest of all improvements." But the diminu-
tion of the expence of carriage not only operates
to equalise one part of the country with the
other; it produces a real gain to all parts of the
country, by diminishing the quantity of labour, of
time, and consequently of expence, in transferring
any article from the grower or manufacturer to
the consumer. The following extract from a
late Parliamentary Report affords a striking
il-
lustration of our remark. " The principal dis-
posable produce of the Southern parts of the
county of Kerry is butter. The quantity sent
annually from this district to Cork amounts to
ten thousand firkins, the whole of which is
carried on horses backs, there being generally
two and sometimes three firkins placed on
each horse. If a level road were open, wheeled
carriages would soon be introduced ; by which
means one man and horse could, with equal fa-
cility, perform the same work which now re-
quires twelve men and as many horses." Here,
then, is the saving of eleven-twelfths of the ex•
pence of conveying an article to market, occa-
sioned by the mere formation of a common turn-
pike road ; but we know that where these roads I

have been superseded by canals and 'navigable
rivers,the result has been upon the general industry
of the kingdoms wonderful advance. Will science
stop here ? May we not reasonably expect improve-
ments as far beyond the modern canals, as those
canals were before turnpike roads, or us turnpike
roads are before the horse tracks of the County of
Kerry ? The proposed Rail Road from Man-
chester to Liverpool professes to be such an im-
provement ; and surely, if it prove so, the be-
nefit may be regarded as national. Manchester
and ' Liverpool act a most important part
in the manufacturing and commercial inte-
rests of the empire. Above 1,000 tons of
goods are estimated to pass dailyhetween those'

towns, keeping up a constant life and activity
throughout the populous manufacturing districts
in that neighbourhood. If the movement of this
great machine can be accelerated, what can we not
expect from its movement ? It is stated that goods
which take 36 hours, at a charge of 15s. per ton,
in the transit from Manchester to Liverpool,
may be transported the same distance, on a Rail
Road, in four or five hours, and at a charge of
only ten shillings, making a gain of 2501. a day,
or (excepting Sundays) 784501. tier annum.
Many other advantages are suggested as likely to
arise from the new plan, but it is sufficient for
us to have pointed to the two great points—cele-
rity and cheapness. If these allegations can be
substantially made out in practice (and we see
nothing improbable in the supposition), it is clear
that the great principle of public utility will com-
mand the adoption of the proposed Rail Road.

[MORNING CIIRONTCLE4
Mr. William Mason's explanatory letter re-
specting the Swaffham accident, published in
our paper of yesterday, is any thing but satis-
factory. It does not indeed affect a single ma.
aerial feature of the case, and conveys little more
than partial, and we may add unimportant
qualifications of statements which have ap-
peared. For instance, the writer informs us
that the road in which the spring gun was
set was not a public road ; no one ever for
one moment supposed that it was a public road,
as in that case the Jury could have found
but one verdict, our laws not having reached
such a pitch of perfection as to permit of snares
in public roads to shoot the passengers. Gentle-
men have at present only► the privilege of blowing
out the brains of trespassers on their own grounds.

Then we are told that Brownsell was intruding,
contrary to positive orders,on the forbidden spot;
are we to infer from this that Isis melancholy fate
is regarded as the fruits of disobedience ? But
Mr. Wm. Mason lastly, to wind up the whole con•
sistently, contradicts the statement that flrownsell
was found weltering in his blood, and assures
us, " that little blood was visible," and that
not the shot, but the cold of the night, affecting
his extreme age (though warm baths and
other restoratives were had recourse to)
was his death." It is well for them if the
persons most nearly touched by the death
of this poor fellow can comfort themselves with
the reflection that he did not shed much blood,
and that he perished, not of his wounds, but of
cold. For ourselves, we must confess we have
been more shocked and indignant that the mall
should have been brought to his death by
means of a spring.gun, than curious to
know the exact quantity of blood that was spilt
in this legit!mate sort of execution. But, argues
the writer, it was not the shot, but the cold
of the night that was Brownsell's death. This
may be a very comfortable, but it is also a very
vain piece of curiosity. The man is maimed and
disabled by the shot, so as to be unable to
crawl more than a few yards, he is thus exposed
to the weather for many hours, and then it
is contended that the cold did the mischief, not
the charge of slugs ; but really we cannot help
thinking that the man would not have died as he
did had he not been shot by the gun. With
regard to the statement that the gun was
found by the Jury re-loaded, the writer observes
that it was not loaded immediately but soon after

the catastrophe (we presume), and without his
brothers privity. Whether the gun was loaded
" Immediately" or 44 soon after" affects the ge-
neral inference about as much as whether the suf-
ferer shed much or little blood. The writer states
that the machinery was prepared for fresh mischief
without his brother's privity ; he has omitted to
add, that it was without his own. In conclu-
sion, indeed, Mr. William Mason declines
giving any opinion on the subject of setting
these engines, and he is certainly not called upon
to do so ; but he gives a most extraordinary rea-
son for withholding his sentiments, namely, that
being no sportsman, he is little entitled to speak
on the subject. The subject, as we apprehend,
does not involve a question of sport, but one of
humanity and justice, consequently we are at a
loss to perceive on what score sportsmen are ex.
clusively entitled to speak on it. Did the dis-
cussion relate to the killing of pheasants and par-
tridges, we should allow that sportsmen were
peculiarly competent to decide, but as it relates
to the killing of men, we cannot but think that
persons, though not qualified to shoot, may be
allowed to pronounce an opinion.