The Sun.
London, England, 1841-07-09 00:00:00

Ebt

LONDON:
FRIDAY, JULY 9, 1841.

The large space occupied by our Railroad Map, corn
pets us to be very brief. It is impossible, however, to
publish such a description of this stupendous invention,
and its rapid development over the whole empire, bring-
ing the most remote parts as near to each other, for all
the essential purposes of communication, as the extre-
mities of the metropolis, and making all England into
one city, without remarking that the stationary or Con-
servative policy which now seems for a moment to have
obtained the upper hand in Parliament, is founded on a
principle in all respects opposed to that principle of rapid
improvement and rapid communication which is exem-
plified in Railroads. The language they speak, both
morally and physically, and which all men speak who
use and make them, is, .` Go-ahead ;" the language of
Conservatives is, " Stand still." " Let us," say the inven-
tors of railroads, of locomotive engines, of spin-
ning-mules, of all new processes in art, con-
stituting the bulk of the people, " have some-
thing better, more convenient, and more useful than
our fathers possessed" ; but the Conservatives say " our
fathers made the best of all possible laws, framed the
best of all possible Constitutions, had the purest and most
intelligent of all Churches, and we will resist all change,
because the best possible laws and institutions can only
be changed for the worst." They believe that before men
had invented steam-engines or railroads they had in-
vented a perfect Government, which time can neither cor-
rupt nor improve, and they are now to carry it on in op-
position to that progress which is and ever has been as
essentially the principle of society as gravity is of matter.
The rapidity with which railroads have come into use
should astound the Conservative politicians. Within
twelve years they have all been made. Such a stride
was never before taken ; and it is impossible to reflect
that the population of this country is now doubling
itself within thirty or forty years, while in the previous
century it required SO, and before that 200, and probably
from the time of the Norman Conquest scarcely doubled
itself in 300 years, without concluding that the progress
which Sir R. PEEL iS to take office to resist is proceed-
ing in an accelerating ratio. After all the Reforms
made by the Whigs they are actually taunted by some
of their opponents with not having proposed at
an earlier period their measures of commercial reform.
The truth is, that the rapid progress of society in
modern times, to which the formation of railways is an
index, has made the bulk of our laws, like stage coaches
and post-chaises, which have been forced off the road,
no longer suitable to society. The Legislature has not
reformed half enough, and that Conservative body which
is now to be augmented has already been much too pre-
dominant in it for the public welfare.
The most backward part of society, and the most Con-
servativ', has obtained a temporary mastership in the
Legislature. It has already done immense and
irredeemable mischief by irrecoverably wasting much
precious time. The gross mistake has been com-
mitted, by factious and party
.men, of ascribing all our
existing evils to mal-administration, instead of erro-
neous and wicked legislation ; and while the only means
of relief is to be found in an alteration of the law, the
electoral body, under the direction of Sir ROBERT PEEL
and Co., requires a change in the Ministers. Those
who have, perhaps wilfully, made this mistake will be re-
sponsible for it to the country. The deed, however,
has now been done : the Legislature is constituted more
Conservative, more hostile to the natural and inevitable
progress of society, and as sure as railways shall extend,
and the population increases, so sure must such a Le-
ffislature either destroy society or be destroyed.

We are net in the habit of making any comment upon
speeches delivered on the hustings. We endeavour to
report them faithfully, and leave those most interested to
make their own comments. But we feel compelled to
notice the presumptuous assertion of the Tories at the
nomination of candidates for the county of Middlesex
yesterday, as the matter passed under our own eyes. Mr.
NEWDIGATE, in seconding the nomination of Mr. WooD,
took occasion to tell Mr. BYNG that he was there merely
upon sufferance, that he was the tolerated Member for Mid-
dlesex. Mr. NEWDIGATE had the presumption further to
warn Mr. BYNG that there was a limit to toleration, and
expressed his earnest hope that he would not again put
them in the same painful situation. By whose sufferance
or toleration Mr. BYNG still continues for the 15th time
Member for Middlesex, we are at a loss to know. We
happen to know something•of the county of Middlesex
ourselves, and it is a fact, that, up to the latest moment;
Mr. WOOD and his Tory friends were trembling in their
shoes for fear of a second candidate being started in con-
junction with Mr. BYNG, and we honestly think the Li-
beral party are highly to blame for not having taken this
course. If Mr. NEWDIGATE thinks that the small portion of
Tories upon the hustings on Tuesday, comprise the sense
of the county of Middlesex, we tell him then he is wofully
mistaken, and it must indeed be an obtuse intellect that
could not be convinced in the stirring scene of Tuesday
which candidate was the choice of the meeting. Mr.
BYNG, we tell them, is fixed in the hearts of the elec-
tors of Middlesex, and he is safe in the bands of-his