The Sun.
London, England, 1846-01-30 00:00:00

M A P

THE RAILWAYS.

IN A FEW DAYS, WE SHALL PUBLISH A

•RAILWAY SUN,"

during the present year there had been deposited 818
plans of projects in the Board of Trade, and there now
stood for the consideration:of the House 687 Bills. There
could be no doubt but that the number of railway Bills
to be considered during this session would be so great
as to render it impossible to find Committees to consider
these Acts. The capital required for these Bills
amounted to 370,000,0001. of money. Now, this sum
would not be all required, because many were compe-
ting schemes ; but making every deduction, not a less
sum would be applied for than 100,000,000/. Last year
they had authorised 118 Bills, requiring 56,000,000/. ;
the previous years 46 Bills, requiring 14,000,0001;
making a demand; of 70,000,0001. in three years ;
thus making an average call during the next three
years of 20,000,000/.; and the lowest estimate of the
amount required during the next year would be
100,000,000/. It was necessary for Parliament to con-
sider whether the diversion of this enormous amount of
capital to railway enterprise mast not be detrimental to
the interests of the country, and whether some
limitation ought not to be placed upon it ?
Already had the price of labour and materials been en-
hanced to an inconvenient degree. Neither was it for
the interest of railway enterprise itself to permit this
state of things to continue. It had been said that the
evil would provide its own remedy ; but still Parliament
ought not to invest companies with great powers, to keep
them suspended over the heads of parties interested,
and to permit them to indulge in reckless expen-
diture. On these grounds, he thought it right
that some limitation should be placed on these schemes.
He thought the Executive Government was right in riot
taking upon itself the responsibility of not placing a
check upon these schemes. It was for Parliament to
decide on the subject; Government had applied their at-
tention to it, and had made preparation to lay before
Parliament all the necessary information. It would be
useless and unprofittable to lay that information on the
table for discussion before the douse, and the Govern-
ment thought it the more useful plan to refer the matter
to a Select Committee, and he therefore begged to move
for the appointment of a Committee for the purpose.
Lord BROUGHAM, when called upon to increase the
grants of money for railroads from 20,000,000/. a year
to 53,000,00 W. a year, said it became Parliament to
pause and inquire before they consented to such a
grant. lie would suggest some alteration in the manner
of conducting the Private Bill business, in order to
secure a proper consideration of these Bills. He would
never wish to take from the privileges of the House, but
Parliamentary Committees were the worst tribunals to
sit judicially and decide upon the disposal of millions of
property, and he trusted that some more satisfactory
tribunal might be established.
Lord KINNAIRD trusted the Noble and Learned Lord
would bring forward some measure to remedy this evil,
which was undoubtedly a great one. The Noble Lord
gave notice that on Monday he should move for a re-
turn of fees paid to this House on introducing railway
Bills, and also on petitions. In one case he knew the
costs of opposing a Bill had been 800/., and out of that
sum 300/. had been paid in fact to the officers of that
House.

Lord ASHBURTON supported the motion for the ap-
pointment of the Committee, and agreed that it was ne-
cessary to put some limitation on railway speculation.
He was inclined to refer the prosperity of the last three
years and the increased employmentigiven to the labour-
ing classes, to the increased expenditure consequent upon
the formation of railways rather than to the relaxation
of the protective duties.

A NOBLE LORD suggested that it was important that
the report of this Committee should be presented at the
earliest possible period, in order to prevent the pay-
ment of deposits on those Bills which were reported
against. On the other hand, they would do great iojus-
Lice, if they did not give the subject due consideration.
There should be laid down same principle on which
these were to be considered. There were great diffi-
culties attending the subject. It would have been
better to have applied some check at an earlier date,
and thus have prevented an useless expenditure of
money.

Earl GREY hoped they were not to be considered as
pledging themselves to thenovel principle of limiting the
amount of capital to be invested in enterprise. Parlia-
ment; ought to consider if parties had sufficient capital—
if the object in view was for the public good—if it
unjustly interfered with private interests. Parliament was
stepping beyond i.s functions if it attempted to decide how
much capital should be withdrawn from other enterprises
to be invested in railways. Individuals were the best
judges of that point. They would be committing great
injustice, if, upon a hasty and sup,,rficial examination,
they took • upon themselves to determine which of the
railway schemes should be prooet ded with, and which
not. He would suggt st, that instead of having two
Committees of the two Houses, it might not be possible
to have one joint Committee of both Houses.
Lord ASHBURTON considered it almost impossible to
ascertain whether the companies possessed sufficient
capital or not.

establishment of district asylums for the houseless poor '
in the metropolis, confided to them by the statute of the
7th and Bth of Victoria, c. 101 ; and also to inquire into
the effects of any asylums supported by ♦oluntary sub-
scriptions which may have been formed for the same
purpose ; also (pursuant to previous notice) a Select
Committee to investigate the subject.
Lord ASHLEY moved for leave to bring ;in a Bill to
reduce the hours of working of young persons in fac-
tories to ten hours in the day. Two years had elapsed
since he brought the subject before the House ; but
events had since taken place that illustrated the
truth of those principles he had then propounded ;
and the question was now narrowed to this—Would his
proposition be carried into effect without ir jury to trade
or detriment to the wages of the labourer. The Noble
Lord then went at considerable length into what
had taken place during the last year in the manufac-
turing districts, for the purpose of showing that the
shortening of the time of labour had been attended
with no injury to trade, while it improved the wages
and the physical condition of the labourers and their
children. Their physical and mental condition had
been so improved, that they did not appear to be
the same race of human beings. He alluded to
these statements with great satisfaction, be-
eause they gave him great hopes for the future.
Great benefit had also been effected in the manufac-
turing districts from the half-holiday system. Among
all these improvements, none had been effected with
respect to children whose ages varied from thirteen to
eighteen, they were still called upon to work twelve
hours out of the twenty-four. lie thought the House
would admit that this was a subject well worthy of its con-
sideration, and that was the great object he had in view.
Without the House adopted some such measure as that
he proposed, he was sure the manufacturing labourers
would never desist in their perseverance to obtain it.
It was the tenth time he had brought this subject before
the House, and he trusted it would be the last. It was
honourable to the operatives of this country, that, endea-
vouring to procure justice, they had never used the words
of menace, or a vindictive expression. The Noble Lord
concluded by moving for leave to bring in the Bill.
Sir J. GRAHAM, on the part of the Government,
would not, on the present occasion, offer any opposition
to the Bill. In his opinion, however, what had passed
since 1844 showed that there was no necessity at the
present time for legislative interference between the em.
ployer and the employed. He thought the Noble Lord
was entitled to great merit for the arrangement that
had already taken place ; but he thought that some
thanks were due also to the Government. Bt• these
teasures no man could work in a colliery, linen,
silk, or flax manufactory more than twelve hours in the
day. He admitted the magnitude of the subject, and its
importance to the parties interested particularly; hut
the public must also be considered. He thought the
proper course would ho to postpone the opinion of the
House upon this subject until a decision had been come
to on the question brought forward by his Right Hon.
Friend at the head of the Government on the subject of
corn.

Sir J. STRICKLAND thought the operatives themselves
would be satisfied with an Eleven Hours' Bill; and if
such was the case, it would be unwise, at the present
moment, to interfere between
.the employer and the
employed.

Mr. TRELAWNEY thought the Bill would be of no
good ; that it was, in fact, a measure to rob Peter to
pay Paul.

Lord J. MANNERS approved of the measure.
Mr. HUME objected to the measure. He believed
that all the arguments of the Noble Lord could be easily
met and answered. He considered the course proposed
to be adopted by the Right Hon. Baronet at the head of
the Home Department was the correct one.
Mr. B. Escorr believed that many hundreds of opera-
tives had been ruined by the measures of the Noble
Lord, and he should be able to prove that, when the
proper time came for discussing the Bill. He believed
the Noble Lord was rcaintaing a mistaking philanthropy.
Mr. COLQUHOUN believed the Noble Lord was correct,
and trusted that he would persevere in his honousable
and humane course.

After some observations from Mr. ROEBUCK, Mr.
BRIGHT, Mr. FIELDEN, Mr. WAKLEY, and several other
lion. Members, leave was given to bring in the Bill.
The remaining orders of the day beiag disposed of,
the House adjourned at Half-past Ten o'Clock till
Monday.

The aristocracy, under almost every form of govern-
ment, and in all ages, have claimed for their order peen-
ler privileges, hor.ours, as well as exemptions from taxes
and duties imposed upon the rest of the community. The
only exceptions, perhaps, have been in republics, and
these fur a limited period. When the ruling, the wealthy,
and what may be called the official party, became strong
and brought 'the plebeians under their power, they,
agreeably to the propensities of human nature, began to
;eke care of themselves, to throw all the heavy burdens
upon the vulgar, and those who could not resist
their authority, and to cover their selfish pur-
poses arid unmerited privileges under the pretence
that in some great emergency they had rescued the State
from the brink of ruin, and that no honours or rewards
could be too great for the saviours of their country.
The :barons of England claimed great merit in this
respect, but all they did was to humble the KING,
and increase their own power, if we except some
trifling advantages which they claimed for all
classes, but which they rarely afterwards en-
forced. Self-interest was the prime mover—self-
interest regulated their future conduct ; they raised
themselves to the rank of demi-gods, disdained to take
oaths like other people, because their word of
honour was stronger than the oath of plebeians ;
they would be tried for flagrant crimes only by
men of the same rank, who had an interest
in screening a compeer.; declared their honours and
their judicial and senatorial rights perpetual, and for
one tax which they laid upon themselves they laid
twenty on the rest of their fellow-subjects. In France
these principles were carried to a still greater extent
even than in England, solely because tLe middle classes
were more depressed, and, consequently, less able to
resist their unjust pretensions. Like madmen, the nobles
thought the power of their order would last for ever;
they had embarked with them in the same system of
oppression all the high dignitaries of the Church, and
in time the whole of the clergy. Religion and the
sword ruled the destinies of the country, till,
some sixty years ago, the people, indignant at such
mockery of justice and abuse of the sacred truths of the
Gospel, burst forth like a volcano, and swept the united
race from the face of the country. What has been the
result? During all the revolutions which France has
undergone the crimes of the nobility and clergy have
never been forgotten or forgiven; they have been re-
garded as outcasts, and even to the present day the
stigma still adheres to both orders. The iron reign
of NAPOLEON made an outward change ; nobility was
made hereditary, and the Church, to a certain extent,
was raised from its low and deplorable condition; but
when the hand of the despot was removed, and the
influence of foreign powers which crushed the national
voice, it again broke forth, and demanded that
the Peers should enjcy no rights inconsistent
with those of the people. The hereditary peerage was
abolished, the KING was restricted even in the creation
of temporary Peers, and all classes became alike sub-
ject to taxes. The great revolution led mainly to this
result, but the second, called that of July, completed
the work. Would it not be prudent for the Peers of
England to take a lesson from their neighbours and be
wise in time ? Why should the possessors of land have
any exclusive privileges, and why should the great body
of the people be enormously taxed for the benefit of
one class?—for amid all the arguments of the monopo
lists the main argument is, that the abolition of the corn-

L,,rd MONTEAGLE considered it was impossible for
their Lordships to discharge their functions with credit
or satisfaction, so long as the House of Commons in-

sisted on treating railway bills as money bills. He
hoped, in order to afford due consideration to Irish
railway measures, the House of Commons would consent
to an equal division of the consideration of railway
Bills.

Lord BEDESDALE believed that it was impracticable
for Parliament to deal with 600 Bills in one session, and
therefore it was necessary to make some alteration in
the existing system.

The Earl of DALHOUSIE then nominated the Com
mittee.

Lord BROUGHAM proposed that it should be a Coin
mittee of secrecy.

The Earl of ELLENBOROUGH thought there was no
danger of the proceedings of the Committee becoming
known.

The motion was then agreed to, and their Lordships
adjoured till Monday.

The House of Commons met at Four o'clock.
Petitior.s were presented for various railway Bills.
Mr. BRIGHT gave notice that, on Monday next, he
would move the re-appointment of the Committee on the
game-laws.
On the motion of Sir ROBERT PEEL it was agreed
that the House at its rising should adjourn to Monday
next, after a short discussion.
In answer to a question from Mr. T. DUNCOMBE, Sir
JAMES GRAHAM stated that it was the intention of the
Secretary -at-War, at an early period of the session, to
introduce a Bill for the amendment and consolidation of
the Militia Act.
In answer to a question from Mr. BRIGHT, as to when
the militia would be called out,
Sir J. GRAHAM stated that, under the present law, it
was competent for the Government to call out themilitia
at a fortnight's notice.
Sir R. PEEL, in answer to a question from Lord JOHN
RUSSELL, said he had no objection to lay on the table the
papers with respect to the hostilities in Rio de la Plata,
as far as they had reference to the grounds on which
France and England had united on this question, but the
papers relating to the atrocities committed he must at
present decline producing.
Lord J. RUSSELL, in answer to a question from Mr. B.
ESCOTT, stated that he had not yet detf rmined whether
he should, during the present session, again bring in the
Ecclesiastical Courts Bill.

Mr. liarriE, on the part of the bankers of London,
cotnpla,ined of their being compelled by the standing
orders to pay the money they received for railway de-
osits into the Bank of England in the name of the
Accountant General of the Court of Chancery. 11e
thought there ought to be some relaxation of the stand-

ing orders in this respect, as the greatest confusion
would prevail. He believed that all purposes would be
answered by paying the money into the Bank of Eng-
land and sufficient protection afforded to all bond fide
railways. He would make a motion on the subject on a
future day.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said that the
deposits, when paid in to the name of the Accountant-
General, were as available for the purpose of trade as if
paid into the Bank in any other way. All that was
required to get it out was the order of the Court
of Chancery.
Mr. P. M. STEWART said that the money that was
paid into the Bank of England in the name of the
Accountant-General was froze up and totally unavailable
for the purposes of trade. As to obtaining an order in
Chancery, that, as was well known, was the work of time.
Sometimes such a document was not obtained for twenty
years.

laws will reduce their incomes. The fact has been inad
'ertently admitted by the most strenuous advocates of the
obnoxious impost, and all rational men know that the
interests of the tenants and their labourers have no •
thing to do with the question, that these classes are
brought in as ignorant auxiliaries and that the rent-roll
guides the whole movement. The discerning public
cannot be deceived by such shallow pretences, and the
Peers, for they are the
prime instigators in the affair,
will yet find that by persevering in their opposition they
will only excite further investigations, and that the
offers of the Duke of IticumoND and Lord BEAUMONT
will be accepted by Mr. COBDEN and Mr. HUME. The
former has repeatedly attempted in vain to
ascertain, by means of a Committee, the real amount of
burdens on land. His request cannot now bo denied with
a good grace; and while the new tariff for corn con-
tinues in operation, there will be ample time to
carry the inquiry into full effect. But an inquiry
into the burdens alone will not do. The exemptions can-
not be omitted. There must be a balance-sheet, and the

Mr. lIuDsoN thought that the whole difficulty wonld
be got over by the transfer of India Bonds, or Consols,
or Exchequer-bills, instead of cash being required to
be paid into the Bank.

Mr. MUNTZ could not see what objection the Govern-
ment had to receive their own Exchequer-bills.
Sir R. PEEL trusted the House would not interfere in
this matter, as he felt convinced that the spirit of im-
proper speculation would never be put an end to unless
the public sustained some inconvenience.
After a few observations from Mr. F. BARING the sub-
ject dropped.

legacy duty alone will throw a vast weight into the scale

against the landlord. That enormous and unjust tax is

universally
reprobated by all, except those who are

exempted from its operations. It is calculated

that, within a period not exceeding the span
usually allotted to human life, the whole

perbonal property of the country goes in to
the public Treasury. From this grievous tax the Peers
and more wealth y landowners are generally exempted.
They rarely have much personal property, and their
entailed estates pay nothing. The amount thus im-
properly diverted from the Treasury is enorWous. Take,
tor e
4alP-ei the Leaded property of one of t.4e cabinet
. .

On the motion of Sir C. NAPIER, a Committee was
appointed to inquire into the manner in which the Poor-
law CommisOopers have exercised the powers for the

THE SUN. LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, JANUARY 30, 1846.

Ministers, and see what he and his family would have paid
to the public revenue had Peers been treated like hard-
working tradesmen. Suppose the estate has changed hands
twice within the last thirty years, and that it is
worth 7,000,0001,—a very medcrate calculation. Even
descending from father to son, the legacy duty
would amount to 150,0001, and had it descended to
distant relations, the sum would have been one million
and a half sterling. But property changes hands
by descent or will much oftener than twice
in thirty years, and this circumstance, con-
sequently, would make a vast difference in the calcula-
tion. The family, during that period, has succeeded
to two other estates—one of which would have been
classed in that clause of the Legacy Duty Act by which
ten per cent. is charged, and the other five per
cent. Each of these estates is large, and
perhaps, taken tcgether, they may give a rental of
somewhat less than 80,0001., some say 100,0001,
but we rather state the case hypothetically, and leave
our readers to reckon the amount which the family has
thus saved by one exemption alone. They will find that,
according to the average of human life, a family pos-
sessing so much landed property must save an enor-
mous sum in thirty years by this unfair immunity.
When the burdens on land are taken into account, facts
like these cannot be kept out of view.

Immethodical and formless as the opposition of the
Protectionists appeared to be on the first blush of their
discomfiture by Sir ROBERT PEEL'S secession from
their principles, the necessity and peril of their position
has driven their plans to a most precocious development.
This single fortnight between the mere exposition and
the veritable discussion of their downfal has imbued them
with such a wonderfully vivifying impulse, as to force
their schemes of antagonism to a premature growth.
What originally appeared to be a vague and un-
systematic antipathy to the Ministerial statement, has
now budded forth into some kind of shape, however
much void of symmetry • the rage of the landowners,
previously a creature of chaotic bitterness, has " taken
limbs unto itself"—but those limbs are sinewless, and
thewless, and utterly destitute of moral force. Ali the
earnestness of will is there, but without the power of
action : the Archimedean standing-place is there, but
without the leverage wherewith to move the political
fabric. In the Upper and the Lower House, in the
agricultural districts, and in the metropolis, the great
mouthpieces of monopoly are breathing vengeance
against Sir Ronewr PEEL for what some designate his
cowardice, and others his chicanery, and others his pro-
fligate inconsistency. Not only is Stamford in all the
effervescence of chagrin, and not only do " the powers
that form" in the vicinity of that borough growl with
something between malice and disappointment against
their representative, Sir GEORGE CLERK, but similar
sentiments, though of extra acidity, boil up in the
bosoms of the protectionists in Oakham. A still more
marvellous fury is goading sundry of the inhabitants of
Newark to expressions of the bitterest discontent :
and in divers other quarters—in nooks and
corners as obscure and remote as Welchpool—the
first feelings of prostration are gradually sub-
siding, and in lieu of them feelings of the
most acrid, and at the same time of the most impotent
rage, are gurgling in the hearts and bubbling
through the lips of a vanquished but braggart
class. Through the medium of oratory the flames
of agricultural agitation are evidencing them-
selves, and are crackling somewhat lustily, though
unhappily for no recognisable purpose whatever. Yet,
so repeatedly have the same materials been consumed
over and over again in precisely the same manner—so
charred, and blackened, and tinder-like had they become
through constant use, that the fire of opposition would
either smoulder away to insignificance, or be at length
irretrievably extinguished, but for the interposition of
some powerful political bellows. That bellows is his
Grace the Duke of RICHMOND, who, in his capacity of
President of the Central Agricultural Society, was yes-
terday instrumental in breathing something more vivi-
fying than usual into the principles of which he is so
uncompromising an advocate, in the shape of some very
valiant resolutions and very hopeless recommendations.
The first resolution declares the Society's " alarm at the
proposed measures for establishing free importation ;"
while the second utters its firm opinion that such mea-
sures would excite a revolution so terrible as "to in-
volve not only the agricultural but the other productive
classes of this country in certain ruin." It would, we
eanjecture, require some great metaphysical ingenuity
to ferret out the argument, the influence, the applica-
tion, or the utility of these two vastly important and
amazingly logical declarations. The deduction con-
tained in the latter is so miserably non-apparent ;
the announcements are so manifestly founded upon as-
sumptions ; and the whole originates so clearly and
ostensibly in the dark and murky principles of self-
interest and self-aggrandisement, that it withers away
in its proportions, until it becomes in the estimate of
every sensible thinker something very little short of
nothingness. The subsequent recommendation, how-
ever, is equally shallow and equally preposterous ; it is
addressed to the country in general and the local Pro-
tection Societies in particular, advising them severally
and collectively—
" That they do immediately form committees, of not more
than twelve gentlemen, to wait upon the Members in their
several districts, who were elected on protective principles,
and press them either to reject the proposal of Sir Robert
Peel, or at once to resign their seats, and appeal to their
different constituencies for a sanction of the change in their
political opinions."

Hitherto we have laboured under the impression that
an English constituency was capable of conducting its
own affairs, and scrutinising the conduct of its own re-
presentative, and duly estimating its own consistency,
without the interference of any extraneous or inflnites-
simal force; but, thanks to the Duke of RICHMOND
and his adherents, our erroneous notion is dispelled;
we clearly perceive, according to their mode of
drawing infetences, that the case stands quite otherwise,
that hot is cold, and that white is black. All Hon.
Members may, therefore, now expect some twelve da:, s
of delightful dunning, and pestering, and importunity;
besides the additional pleasure of arguing with men
as capable of comprehending a self evident proposi
tion as of seeing commerce conducted with
scales of an equal balance. Assuredly the character of
opposition adopted by these lovers of exclusive protec-
tion is proportioned to the littleness of their policy.
Like the Abyssinians mentioned by BRUCE, they would
cut their dinner from the living flesh of the animal
they rode—they would satiate their appetite for emolu-
ment from the life-blood of their countcymcn—they
would extract wealth for themselves from the property
of the country.

The accounts from Madrid of the 22d inst. are of an
unsatisfactory character. The proposed marriage of the
QUEEN with the Count DE TRAPANI is exciting great op-
position, and will either break up the Ministry or lead
to the dissolution of the Cortes. Scarcely any party in
the country seems to approve of it ; the chief supporters
of the measure being Queen CHRISTINA and NARVAEZSwho
are encouraged in their scheme by the Court of France.
We learn from some of the journals that the Deputies
who had resolved to protest against the marriage re-
mained firm in their purpose, and that several of them
are generally supporters of the Government. The
Timpo states that the text of the resolutions is nearly
as follows :—" The undersigned Deputies, strongly con-
vinced that the marriage of her MAJESTY with the
Count DE TRAPANI would be fatal to the country, to
its institutions, and to the consolidation of the monarchy,
pledge themselves to appoint a Committee from their
own body to confer with the Ministers, and demand from
them a formal promise that they will not consent to
such a marriage." The Tiempo adds that more than
fifty Deputies have already signed this resolution. It
would appear, 'therefore, that there is little chance of
obtaining the approbation of the Chamber of Deputies
for such a marriage, as the Progressist party would
have only to add their votes to those of the dissidents o
the Ministerial party to defeat the project.

The Universal states, that so far from there having
been shown any disposition on the part of some of the
Deputies who had resolved to protest against the mar •
ridge with the Count DE TRAPANI to retract, they had
all, remained firm, and their number was being hourly
increased. The alinisters held a Council, at which they
are reported to have resolved that they would reject the
message which it was proposed to send to them, to re-
fuse any information on the subject of the marriage, to
dismiss all public functionaries who should take part in
the manifestation, full to dissolve the Cortes if the
majority should persist in the course that was pur-
sued. That journal adds :—" Most animated discus-
sions have taken place in the Council of Ministers re-
lative to the message and the Trapani pretensions.
It is not doubtful that the discord existing between
the Ministers will end in a modification of the Cabinet.
We are in a complete Ministerial crisis, and may
Heaven prevent its results being detrimental to the
country and the throne! The Deputies who have
signed the message are more than ever determined to
persevere in their project, and the difference of opinion
that separate the Opposition and the Majority have
vanished before the immense importance of an affair
which concerns all parties and all society." The affair
altogether forbodes some serious movement, but no
mention of it has yet been made in the Cortes. The
?hare de Bayonne of the 25th says :—" At the moment
when we were going to press we received a letter from
'run) us that the Spanish Cortes have beon