The Sun.
London, England, 1846-07-03 00:00:00

COBDEN. Men of England ! remember his services—
they have been yours and the world's !

In consequence of the elevation of Lord FRANCIS
EGERTON to the earldom of Ellesmere a vacancy

has occurred in the representation of South Lan-
cashire. Nothing could by possibility have trans-
pired of a political character just at this remarkable
juncture more likely to arouse the interest and

arrest the attention -of all classes throughout the

country than an election for any constituency ; but
that interest and that attention are of a three fold
intensity now that the election occurs in the very
centre of the hot-bed of the free-traders,

namely, in the greatest of the manufac-
turing districts. Every one will turn with a
peculiar anxiety to the nomination and the accept-
ance of the candidate, and this because through this
election of a representative may be discerned the sen-
timents with which the people regard the recent alter-
ations in the commercial code. It will be seen from
_ _

the principles advocated by the successful candidate
whether those changes are regarded with stolid indif-
ference—whether they have met with the approbation
or the indignation of the populace. If, indeed, this
moral experiment, by which the popular emotions will,
to a certain extent, be gauged—if, we say, this experi-
ment cannot be regarded as universally applicable to
the entire community, but simply as indicative of the
feelings rife in one quarter of the kingdom alone,
it will nevertheless continue to be a matter of extreme
importance to observe the results of the first experi-
ment. It will be the text from which we may very

rationally deduce the corollary. With regard to our-
selves, we entertain of course but a single
opinion as to the consequences of the approaching
county election ; we anticipate, as a sane mind can
alone anticipate, that the electors will eagerly avail
themselves of the opportunity here afforded them to
testify their gratitude for the glorious boon con-
ferred upon them by the Legislature; and, as a
constitutional act, to return only such a can-
didate as coincides to the uttermost in the decision
of the most renowned statesman in existence, and the
most liberal-minded Parliament that has sat for years
within the walls of St. Stephen's. Already we re-
cognise the existence of the determination in
the enfranchised portion of the inhabitants
of South Lancashire. We recognise this in the
circumstance of the deputation which waited
upon a most respected and intelligent free-trader of
Liverpool, the deputation conveying to that gentle-
man requisitions from Liverpool and Manchester,
signed by upwards of 9,000 voters, requesting him
to become a candidate for the vacant seat. That re-
quisition was reluctantly acceded to, and that candi-
date is Mr. WlLtaam BuowN, of Liverpool. A name

which has already acquired for itself a considerable
share of attention, and no inconsiderable portion of
respect, throughout Great Britain, from its frequent
recurrence in the reports of the monster

meetings at Manchester, in opposition to the
departed corn-laws, requires no prefix in the
shape of a complimentary adjective. Besides which,
the insignificant majority by which Mr. BROWN was
defeated upon a former occasion has rendered him a
familiar candidate amongst the Lancashire con-
stituency. From the letter which this gentleman
has addressed to the electors of the southern
portion of the county, we are, however, peculiarly
gratified to observe that a liberal policy towards Ire-
land is particularised as one of his most cherished
principles. It is undoubtedly but an additional proof
that, now so many restrictions are removed from
commerce, our Legislators will have bath lei-
sure and inclination to advance the interests
of that heretofore afflicted island. But,
beyond this, it betokens an inclination, on the part
of Mr. BROWN, to extend the liberality of his poli-
tical views beyond the frontiers of trade and beyond
the influences of the monetary department. In doing
so he has displayed his competency to represent such
a constituency as that of South Lancashire ; his
competency is, that he keeps pace with the onward
spirit of this generous and remarkable age, and that
he displays boldness as well as honesty in the expres-
sion of his political opinions. A noble tribute may
now be paid to the late Premier, Sir R. PEEL, to
Mr. COBDEN, and to the memory of the League.
This tribute will be a worthy expression of their
gratitude and of their satisfaction—it is none other
than the return of Mr. WILLIAM BROWN as their
representative.

We yesterday alluded to the report of the Select Com
mittee on Railways of the House of Lords, so far as the
same related to the change contemplated in the standing
orders of both Houses, and entirely approved of the
suggestions offered for the diminution of expense,
and at the same time for affording a more direct and
better protection to the proprietors of properties
about to be interfered with, than that which they have
hitherto enjoyed. In this respect the improvement will
be entirely fur the benefit of the promoters of the various
schemes, and of the owners of the lands interfered
with thereby. The next suggestion is, however, of
immeasurably greater consequence to the public at
large, as being calculated to put a stop to the gam-
bling in scrip, which has been carried on during the
past year to such a fearful extent, and to check the
unlimited projection of new lines of railway, which
were frequently got up, not merely for the purpose
of selling them to other companies with which
they might compete, as stated by the Com-
mittee in their report, but also for the mere
purpose of bringing out the scrip at a premium, so as
to allow a considerable profit to the managing com-
mittee, and to enable the solicitor to secure the pay-
ment of a large and exorbitant bill of costs, and to
provide a comfortable situation for some unemployed
gentleman as secretary. The history of the rise and
progress of the Great Glenmutchkin Railway, so
graphically delineated in the pages of Blackwood,
does not present an overdone picture of what has ac-
tually taken place in too many instances. Like the ra-
zors which were made not to shave but to sell, railways
were projected which were never for a moment in-
tended to be brought before Parliament, and the
only object of which was to secure a considerable
sum for the projectors from the pockets of the public.
In such cases it was easy to assure the public that
the gradients were easy, and the line presented no
engineering difficulties whatever ; viaducts exceeding
considerably the height of the monument, tunnels of
three or four miles in length were looked on as
matters of the most trivial consequence. The
prospectus was prepared with an exuberance of
fancy and a depth of colouring that cast into the
shade the most glowing description from the pen of
GEORGE ROBINS, for while the latter should be, as
novelists term it, founded on facts, the railway pro-
jector scorned to be bound by any such vulgar tram-
mels, being well assured that a very small proportion
of the applicants for shares would seek any informa-
tion beyond that afforded by the prospectus, but,
blinded by the prospect of the large gains held forth,
would hasten to sign the forms of applica-
tion for shares. The men with capital, who
really sought an investment, were seldom
able to obtain an allotment, and could only become
interested by purchasing the letters of allotment at a
considerable premium in the market. When the
bubbles burst a general distrust and panic set in, and
the well-considered and prudent undertakings, by
which much public benefit would have been secured,
were involved in the ruin and the crash that ensued ;
the very plans which had been intended to act as a
check to such speculation and a security to the
public, viz., the provisional registration and the
payment of a deposit, were found to have
had a contrary effect, the first giving, as stated by
the Committee, apparently the same importance and
foundation to a fraudulent scheme as to a sound one,
and the other affording to the projectors the means of
securing themselves against many of the liabilities
which they might incur in attempting to carry out,
for their own ends, the most worthless schemes—we
may add, and also giving them a fund, by the un-
principled and reckless use of which, in what was
termed rigging the market, they were enabled to
force the shares up to a premium, and thus to attain
the only object which induced them to take a part in
the proceeding.
The Committee have suggested two courses for the
purpose of correcting this evil,—the one to render
the sale of scrip before the regular formation of the
company invalid, and to require that the original
allottee should, either by himself, or, in the event of
his death or bankruptcy, by his representative, be
alone admissible as the shareholder until
after the first call shall have been paid—