The Sun.
London, England, 1841-02-06 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY, FE

on the subject of railway superintendence, which

in fact for some time maintained a controversy
on the subject, both glorifying themselves on
Mr. LABOUCHERE'S Bill. Here is what the
Times said :

It is with feelings of peculiar gratification that we wit-
ness the successful result of our labours for the public
good upon the subject of railway accidents, in the Report
of the officers of the railway department of the Board of
Trade, from which we yesterday published copious ex-
tracts, and in the Government measure founded on that
Report. Up to the time when we first directed attention
to this subject, the railway proprietors had every thing
their own way ; the public mind seemed lost in a kind of
bewildering astonishment at the results produced by the
application of steam-power to inland travelling, and the
few who considered that it was necessary to watch with
jealousy the progress of an important social revolution
(for it was nothing less), were in danger of being decried
as illiberal opponents of all scientific improvement.
The Chronicle was not less pleased :
We perceive, with much satisfaction (it said) that in
the Report of the Railway Department of the Board of
Trade, and in Mr. Labouchcre's Bill, founded thereon,
similar views are taken of the subject to those which we
repeatedly advocated during the recent discussions.
We paid some attention to the subject at the
time of these discussions, and of the accidents

which called them forth; and we, too, had then

the satisfaction of seeing our remarks quoted and
praised by some of our Contemporaries, and
borrowed by others, but we cannot boast
that our " labours for the public good" have
found any countenance either in the Report of
the Commissioners or Mr. LABOUCHERE'S Bill.

In truth, we are rather astounded, and so are,
apparently, the Commissioners themselves, as
well as the BOARD of TRADE and PLANTATIONS,
at the vast power they recommend to be confer-
red on that hitherto unimportant and little known
and little exercised branch of our Government.

If we recollect right, Mr. HUME once recom-
mended that the Board should be abolished; we
are not quite sure, if this Bill be carried, that it
may not, bye and bye, like AARON'S rod, swal-
low up all the other branches.

Mr. LABOUCHERE, in proposing the Bill, said
" Hon. Gentlemen might be alarmed at seeing in
the Bill very large powers ;" but those powers

seem to have had no alarm for the Times, which

has been for years such an opponent of the lesser
power conferred on the Poor-law Commissioners,
in relation, not to the whole community, not to

what will probably soon be the sole means of in-
ternal communication, but to the poor and the
paupers. That the Chronicle should not be
alarmed does not at all astonish us, because our
Contemporary has long been a zealous advocate
for increasing the power and extending the
operations of Government. In what shape the
recommmendations of the Commissioners, and
to what extent, may be embodied in Mr.
LABOUCHERE'S Bill, we know not, but when we
remember the vast extent of railway property,
and the certainty that, till some swifter and safer
means of communication be invented, railways
will monopolize all travelling, we look with some
suspicion on recommendations of the lbllowing
description :

We recommend, therefore, that a general power should
be given to the Board of Trade of issuing regulations for
enforcing upon railways in general, or upon any railway
in particular, such arrangements and precautions as from
experience appear necessary for the public safety. We
are aware that such an indefinite power is apt to be
looked upon with jealousy, but we see no alternative be-
tween assuming it, and fettering the action of a supervis-
ing authority so as to render it practically of little use.
The principle of Government supervision necessarily im-
plies confidence in those to whom it is intrusted. If the
Legislature is afraid to intrust discretionary powers to pub-
lic and responsible officers who have no conceivable mo.
live for abusing them, this is an argument not for tying up
their hands so as to deprive them of the power of doing
good, but for dispensing with supervision altogether. In
the present case, also, it must be remembered that an ef-
fective supervision for the prevention of accidents is as bene-
ficial for the railway companies themselves as for the public,
and that it is especially fcr the interest of the best conducted
railways to have the precautions which they themselves
adopt generally enforced. Indeed, from what we have
seen in our intercourse with the directors and manag-
ing officers of many of the principal railways in the king-
dom, we are convinced that a supervision exercised on the
principles, and confined to the objects above stated, would
be regarded with anything but apprehension or distrust,
and that we should find the Railway Companies generally
willing and anxious to co-operate with us in the common
object of insuring the greatest amount of safety to the
public.

Should the Legislature think proper to grant to the
Board of Trade this power, it is evident that it ought not
to be fettered by a proviso similar to that inserted in the
3d section of the 3d and 4th Victoria, c. 97, compelling it
to issue Inc same rrgindou.. 1.. we the
same time to all Railway Companies. As a general rule,
the regulations should of course be as far as possible uni.
form ; but there arc many cases in which regulations
proper on one railway would be improper en another, and
there are also particular cases (as for Instance those of
railways having a common terminus, and using a portion
of the same line in common) in whieb it might be neces-
sary to make regulations more in detail than would be
necessary on other lines. The best check upon any abuse
of these discretionary powers would be a proviso that no
order or regulation should be issued by the Board without
a minute stating the reasons for its adoption, the pro-
duction of which might be at aay time called for by
Parliament.

" Public safety," " precautions which appear
necessary," may be largely interpreted ; and it
is something new in theory, though not in prac-
tice, that those who administer the Government
in every branch are to be implicitly confided in,
and all other classes of men are to be objects of
suspicion and mistrust. We will not now enter
further on this subject, but we shall watch the
progress of the Bill, stating at once that the late
conduct of the Legislature—conferring immense
monopolies without knowing it—refusing or ne-
glecting to establish railways on any general and
public principle has given us no confidence
whatever in its present legislation. What is the
Board of Trade and Plantations, that it should
at once be endowed with a power hitherto denied
to aay branch of the Government ?

The country will joyfully concur in the vote of
thanks by wliich the two Houses of Parliament
have testified their admiration of the chivalrous
exploits of the British and Austrian seamen and
marines on the coast of Syria. The history of
naval warfare supplies no example of the achieve-
ment of so many successes in so short a period;
and when it is considered that the peace of the
world depended upon the celerity of Commodore
NAPIER'S movements, his brilliant victories ac-
quire an importance which it is impossible to
over-rate. Nobly have our gallant tars and their
brethren of the marines, wiped away the stain of
degeneracy which was sought to be fixed on the
wooden walls of Old England. Triumphantly
have they vindicated the immaculate honour of
that flag, which, borne on the wings of conquest,
" braved a thousand years, the battle, and the
breeze ;" and which we trust is destined
to brave them a thousand years more with-
out quailing before an enemy. At the expiration
of services, the principle of which was disap-
proved of by a large party in this country, it
must be truly gratifying to such brave men as
Admiral STOPPORD, Commodore NAPIER, Ad-
miral BANDEIRA, the Archduke FERDINAND,
Admiral WALKER, Major-General Sir CHARLES
SMITII, and the whole of the officers, sea-
men, and marines, who took part in them, 'to
find the British Parliament unanimously con-
curring to lay at their feet that tribute of
admiration and gratitude which is never
obtained but by the most heroic achievements.
Other, and in a mercantile sense more substantial,
rewards, we doubt not, await them. In earning
Such praise they have earned solid pudding. But
in the estimation of brave men, the unanimously
ofan doielliish eal;auti. ely
Jo
me xipnroensss ed
is knot as of hb a
r rtene
reco Housesrecom-
pense pense of glorious deeds. The objects of such
thanks are •self-exalted and ennobled by them.
To merit the thanks of a nation is a noble object
of generous ambition ; to obtain them is often a
reward for the most distinguished service, which
the brave recipients would not exchange for all
the hidden wealth of Peru and Mexico.

When our readers consider that the failure of
the Syrian expedition would have plunged this
country into a hostile conflict with France, they
will not require to be told that no honours await
the principal officer in achieving the success of
that expedition, and his brave companions in
arms, to which they are not fully entitled.
Co

mmodore NAPIER at once performed the
part of a gallant tar, and a consummate diplo-
matist. He displayed not more courage and

self-possession on the quarter-deck of the
Powerful before Acre, than he did saga-
city and persuasiveness in the VICEROY'S divan
at Alexandria. The services which he thus
rendered to his country and to Europe are not
to be estimated by the ordinary standard of naval
success in war. The same remark, in a restricted
sense, applies to the conduct of his colleagues in
arms, included in the Lords' and Commons' vote
of thanks—a vote which, we are confident, the
country will ratify by unanimous acclamation.

We beg leave to direct public attention to a
letter from a Correspondent at Walsall, which
appears in another place. It gives us pleasure to
be the means of publishing anything which tends
to redeem the character of that borough. The
influence and intimidation used ought not to have
been borne, and we blame the electors that they
were not all like the one honest and honourable
man mentioned by our Correspondent. Walsall
has much to perform to recover its character, but
we will hope with our Correspondent, that, in
spite of Mr. FOSTFR and the landlords, it will do
right at the next opportunity.

There is no news of the slightest political in-
terest ,in the French Journals of Wednesday..
The noisy partisans of all parties are so well
pleased with the passing of the Fortifications
Bill that they are for the moment indifferent to
everything else. That the Secret Service Money
Bill would be passed, and the Commercial Treaty
with Holland ratified, was the general impression
in the best informed circles.

An Englishman named ALcocK, who robbed
his employer, a banker at Nottingham, was tried
a few days ago at Tours for travelling with a false
passport. He was fined 15 francs and discharged,
notwithstanding the demaz.d of an English police-
officer that he might be surrendered to justice
This protection of thieves by foreign Govern-
ments is somewhat startling.
The Moniteur of this morning publishes in its official
part—

1. The law containing the definitive regulation of the
Budget of 1641.
2. The law granting to the Minister of Public Works
a credit of 3,000,000 of francs, and another for 600,000,
on the Budget of 1841, for the reparation of the damage
done by the inundations.
To-day the appeal will come before the Court of Ces-
sation, relative to the property of the domain of Chem-
boid, claimed by the State, against the Duke of Bordeaux.
Yesterday, by virtue of an order of M. Fraissinaud, Ex-
amin:ng Judge, a commissary of police seized in the office
of the Journal du Psuple 130 copies of a printed paper in
18mo., bearing the title of a " A Second Letter to the
Workmen," by Norrel, journeyman weaver at Rouen.
The Toulonnais of the 29th of January announces that
the second division of the squadron was to sail on the fol-
lowing day to join Admiral Hugon.—Le Constdutionnel.
BOURSE.—PARIS, WEDNRSDAT, Faa. 3.

drat Highest Lowest I.ast
Price Price. Pricy Price
f re,ch 5 per Cents ;l2 90 ... 1l•? 90 ... 112 t 0 ... 112 85
4 per Cents ii9 25 ... 99 25 ... 99 25 .. f,ll 25
3 per Cents 77 10 . 77 10 ... 7E 95 ... 77
dank of trance
sielgian Bank
5 per Cents...«
Spanish Active 25% ... 254 ... 25% ~„ .2554
Passive 6% ... 65( ... 0% ... 6%
New Lleferred
veapolitan
[lonian «,. 1003 i ... 100% ... 1(0% ... 100%

German Journals of the latest dates have
reached us. We extract from them the follow-
ing account of the negotiations at Constantinople
for settling the Eastern question :

CONIITANTINuPLE, JAN. 13.—The important Hatti-
Scherif by which Mehemet Ali obtains the hereditary Go-
vernment of Egypt, is a proof that in spite of the evil fore-
bodings lately excited by the press, the solution of the
Oriental question in this stage also has been effected by
the joint efforts of the Powers concerned. The state of
the case, after the taking of the fortified towns, was as fol-
lows :—The Porte, having recovered possession of the con-
quered provinces, had certainly little inclination to revoke
the decree deposing Mehemet Ali. The Allied Powers
had considered this revocation and the grant of the Pacha-
lick of Egypt for his life as the minimum, which the Sul-
tan should be advised to accept in this state of affairs, while
the grant of the hereditary investiture of Egypt was assured
as the maximum, which the Sultan might be pleased to
concede. We see that the notion of a " Prince Vasalle"
was entirely out of the question.
While the Turkish Cabinet seemed little disposed to
leave Egypt to Mehemet Ali, and Loud Fonsonby would
perhaps have preferred the minimum, it was in the first in-
stance, the Austrian Cabinet which, in accordance with
Prussia, negotiated for the hereditaty investiture of Mehe-
met Ali ; and it was above all the energetic representations
of Prince Metternich in London and Constantinople, that
were believed to be favourable, and decided the removal
of this obstacle, which threatened the peace of Europe.
We need not remark how essentially the position of the
French Ministry has been thereby injured. The confidence
whieb
_M. Guizot has constantly had in the honourable
eirdsivours of the Aitted Courts is fully justified by this
final decision. Even the FresehOpposition will hardly deny
how much equitable consideration has been bad to the
situation of France ; and how much this influenced the con-
duct of the Allied Powers, particularly of Austria and
Prussia.

BELGIAN P UNDS—EausexLe • FEB. 3,
Actual Debt, 2ti per Cent.
Rothschild's Loan, 5 per Cent :dsk
Loan of Thirty Millions, 4 per Cent. 6it4
(1 4.;) 9,54
3 per Cent. —
--..Thirty•seven—.. _,....
Loan of City, le4:1•2. 4 per Cent DU
Society of Commerce, 4i- per Cent 10:2
Bank of Belgium. 5 per Cent.... ....... ......, t•7%
National Society . _
Exchange on London (short)
—Brussels Papers, Feb. 3.
AUSTRIAN FUNDS..—NIIPINA, JAN, 26
f ire per Cents. Metalliques
Four per Cents.
Three par Cents.
Bank Sham IC44
—Allgemeine Zeaung. Jan. 31.

The Madrid Journals and letters from Madrid
of the 27th ult. have come to hand, but are des-
titute of interest.

The Regency had received satisfactory news
from Lisbon. The Portuguese Government had
pledged itself that the Douro navigation question
should be settled before the close of January.

The Gazette of the 26th contains a decree of
the Regency, providing that hereafter the regis-
tries of births, marriages, and deaths shall be
kept by the municipalities. The decree was for
the present to be executed only in towns and
boroughs containing upwards of 500 houses.
The operations in the Five per Cents., 41 in
number, amounted on the 27th to 34,400,000
reals —viz., one for cash at 28i, and the others
at 29i at 60 days. The debt bearing no interest
was done at 6 7-l6ths at 60 days.