The Sun.
London, England, 1848-11-07 00:00:00

THE SUN,

ROLLIN ? Or Loma NaroLEozi ? Before it will be
possible to estimate in any adequate manner the pro-
bability or the improbability of the election of one of
these remarkable candidates, it is necessary to de-
velope in some measure the abrupt nomenclature of
M. EMILE DE GIRARDIN.

"General CAVAIGNAC is the incarnation of the
National." In other words, the ruling President of the
Council is the embodiment of those principles which
have actuated the minds of M. ARMAND AIiRRAST and
his colleagues ever since the revolutionary detonation
of February. True but not all the truth.
General CAVAIGNAC is more than the incarnation of
any journal, however influential. He is the represen-
tative of Armed Moderation. He is the beau ideal
of that Republicanism which is clad in steel from
head to foot, but which nevertheless, in the very
midst of its martial aptitude and warlike preparation,
is passive in its attitude, genial in its aspirations,
earnest in its sincerity and devoted above all things
to the maintenance of Order and Tranquillity. The
souvenirs associated with the name of CAVAIGNAC
are all of them guarantees for his loyalty to the in-
stitutions of Republicanism. He is not of the
lendemain but of the vielle. If his parentage
be a circumstance obscured by saturnine
reminiscences, the criminality of his father was a
criminality originating in the very exaggeration of
his fanatical love for Democracy. That his son will
adventure upon the emulation of those severe iniquities
is demonstrably impossible. The experience of the
Parisians since the desperate conflict of June has
proved that the fault of EUGENE DE CAVAIGNAC is
the reverse of cruelty—that his heart has imbibed the
delights of lenity with the milk of that mother whose
venerable years are to this day solaced by his noble
and reverential affection. CAVAIGNAC is more, there-
fore, immeasurably more, than a mere emanation
from the newspaper whose name has been consecrated
in the love of all patriots by the recollection of AR-
RAND CARREL.

"LAMARTINE is moderation." Well may the Bien
Public exult in that simple phraseology. " Yes ! all
France admits the truth of that declaration: for the fif-
teen years that this illustrious statesman has been in
political life, there is not one word or act of his that has
not been a pledge of moderation." His genius has
chaunted its apotheosis; his heart has yearned un-
ceasingly for its realization ; his voice has pronounced
its sublimity in language nerved with the vitality of
conviction and radiant with the glory of eloquence.
Moderation has been not the illusive meteor of his
hopes,:not the ignis fatuui of his enthusiasm, but the
bright and eternal star which has guided him onwards
in his career, and presided over his destinies in all
the vicissitudes of his active and diversified life.
For the furtherance of the truths of moderation, he
has tasked to its uttermost the fruitfulness
of his pliant and glorious intellect. He has ravished
the souls of the million with a love for that modera-
tion of sentiment which could evoke from the abysses
of his nature lyrical melodies such as had never been
conceived in the language of AUBER. He has be-
come in turn the Bard, and the Dramatist, and the
Orator, and the Historian of Moderation, whether he
sang of the joys of domestic existence, or declaimed
against the refusal of emancipation to the negroes, or
repudiated the pernicious dreams of the Red Re-
publicans, or recorded the 'patriotic life and heroic
deaTh: of the great VERGNIATJD. These things
would of themselves constitute a magnificent title
to the Presidentship, but to the employment
of his genius in the cause of Moderation
LAMARTINB has added the risking of his life, again
and again, in its defence. For his whole :political
career, but especially for his extraordinary career
since the days of February, LAMARTINE is deserving
of the suffrages of his fellow-countrymen. His very
name has become a national glory--his eloquence,
his poetry, his patriotism, his earnestness, have all of
them the characteristic signs of nationality. And
these circumstances cannot fail to perpetuate the ad-
miration of his contemporaries if it fail to secure to
him the majority of votes to the Presidency.
While CAVAIGNAC and LAMARTINE may be thus
designated, LBDRU ROLLIN must be regarded as
man whose elevation would be the inauguraa
tion of that rapine which is the result o
Socialism, and of that terror which is tke inevitablei
concomitant of Red Democracy. On the opposite
hand " Louis Na.roLzors is the future"—the future
with all its dimness and incertitude, the future with
all its doubts and awfulness, the future with all its
possible misery and undeveloped misfortunes. Be-
sides the :foregoing terms of elucidation, there is
another which may with the brevity of an epigram
designate in their proper light the characters of the
four principal candidates. CAVAIGNAC tends towards
Security; LAMARTINE towards Happiness; LBDRU
ROLLIN towards Terror; and Louts NAPOLEON to-
wards the reflection of a Glory which may terminate
in the mimicry of a Despotism.

On Saturday we pointed out some of the extraor-
dinary results that followed the establishment of
railway communication throughout the land, and
showed that the community in general were more
deeply interested in the prosperity and extension of
the railway system than even the shareholders them-
selves ; and we promised, on a future occasion, to con-
sider how far those interests may be affected by the
proposed amalgamation. We now proceed to redeem
that promise.
The notices that have been published of the con-

,emplated application shows that it is intended to take
power to unite and consolidate their respective under-
takings and property into one undertaking, or
that ~:ny two of the adjoining companies might
unite and consolidate their undertakings, and that the
third company may unite on a future occasion with
the other undertakings that had previously come to
an arrangement. The notice further adds, " that the
Bill will alter the tolls, rates, and duties now autho-
rised to be levied by the several companies, and will
grant exemptions from the same, and will confer such
rights, powers, and privileges as may be needful for
the attainment of the objects aforesaid, and will extin-
guish all rights and privileges which may prevent the
attainment of these objects.
It is manifest, therefore, that a new compact is to
be entered into between the public generally and a
vast corporation of greater powers and more un-
bounded means than have ever existed at any former
period in any land. A few private individuals will
have under their exclusive control and management a
capital exceeding 40,000,0001. sterling, realising at
present prices only, and without any extension of
communication, upwards of 10,0001. per diem, or
70,0001. per week, or 3,640,0001. per annum—will
afford employment to a host of subordinates, all
exclusively occupied in and receiving handsome sala-
ries from the company ; and they will baides have
myriads of navigators employed on the works that
will continually be in course of construction,
all of whom will be more or less under the influence
and direction of the fortunate few to whom they must
look for promotion or retention in their daily occupa-
tion. The entire military force of the country will
be far outnumbered by the "railway troops." It
might well be doubted whether such gigantic powers,
such extraordinary patronage, could safely be
otea t some
nationala
en-
trustedvg.th"
advantages
or
in the hands of any private individuals,
scounterpoise,were even if un-
doubvaritage to arise there-
from. It was considered necessary to limit
the powers of
although the sphere of
fthe East
.Indi.a Company,
their operations is many thou-
sands of miles from the ahreent state.. What efficient
or adequate control could'
com-
pany having even still greatermwaeual
wealth
hmed over.
and being enabled to check at their
iat their disposal,
Pleasure the entire traffic of a
district,mere will and.
from !Portsmouth on the south, Slung th ranging
coast of England, and to Perth in the Bisterekiwnesatern
the whole of which will be in their exclusive posses-
sion, sion, as it would be vain to hope that any minor
company could for a moment compete with the con.
centrated strength that will then have been attained
We do not desire to be understood as asserting that
the highly respectable gentlemen who at present
constitute the boards of directors of the three com-
panies, and from whom the directors of the united
company, will of course be selected, if the proposed
amalgamation should take place, would be disposed to
make any improper use of the additional powers that
would be placed in their hands. We would place
those powers as readily in their hands as in those of
any other private individuals that could be
selected. But why should they at all •be
granted, unless some permanent necessity, some vast