The Sun.
London, England, 1846-06-01 00:00:00

TAIT'S.

From Mr. De Quincey's article on " Christianity as an
organ of Political Movement" we could select perfect
jewels of thought ; sometimes, like the ruby, flushed
with the hue of his imagination ; sometimes, like
the sapphire, tinged with a heaven-ward bias ; some-
times, like the diamond, lambent with the sparkle of
new and vivid ideas ; sometimes, like the pearl, pure
from the pellucidity of truth. We might pursue the
metaphor throughout the catalogue of the lapidary. Nor
in doing so should we be violating the stern impartiality
of criticism : our praise is not exaggeration ; our ap-
proval is not panegyric. In proof whereuf, we will
quote hap-hazard a few sentences, or, more properly
speaking, a few thoughts. Referring to the Deity of
the Christians, De Quincey says,—
" How great was the chasm dividing the Hebrew God
from all gods of idolatrous birth, and with what starry gran-
deur this revelation of supreme Deity nzust have wheeled upwards
into the field of human contemplation when first surmounting
the streams of earth-born heathenism, I need not impress upon
any Christian audience."

And again, when commenting on the feebleness of
that love for universal peace which is now spreading
amongst mankind, and upon which we ourselves took
occasion the other day to dilate, he laments that—
" War is still, like a basking snake, ready to rear his horrid
crest on the least rustling in the forest."
In another part he conveys a marvellous immensity of
reflection in a few of our simplest words, where, alluding
to the fact that men no longer continue mall demon
worship as the Grecian and Roman mythology, he ob-
serves—

"It is true they do so no longer in our planet. But what
has been apparently may be."
Nor does Mr. De Quincey fall short of himself in
transcribing the views of others ; one passage, indeed,
collated from Sir Isaac Newton's " Optics," is, to our
thinking, sublime, however much the corollary of lie
Quincey may depreciate its significance t—our great
philosopher says, that—
" God is not good, but goodness; is not holy, but holiness;
is not infinite, but infinity."
Tait may rejoice in the possession of such a contri-
butor ; for, though Mr. De Quincey may be somewhat
transcendental as a metaphysician, and somewhat obscure
in his mode of conveying his conceptions, there is
nothing mephitic in his mists of thought, nothing baneful
in the exorbitant idealism of his sentiment. From
" A Ramble in North America," in 1844, we obtain
some novel notions respecting transatlantic natives ;
nevertheless we have no compensation in the narrative
for the facetiousness of Dickens, the elegance of Hamilton,
the keen observance of Marryatt, or even the amusing
though injudicious scornfulness of Mrs. Trollope. The
magazine reader will, however, swallow the potion of
the traveller in good part, as a well-intentioned piece of
pleasantry. "Truth and Falsehood" is the continuation
of a romance upon the merits of which it would be invi-
dious to decide before the story has been further deve-
loped. Tait maintains its supremacy among the month-
lies for analytical and elaborate critiques upon the more
remarkable effusions of the book-press. Among which we
observe that the " History of Greece," by Mr. George
Grote, obtains particular consideration. The political
article at the termination of this Edinburgh Magazine,
would have induced us to amplify the arguments of the
writer had it appeared earlier. It is entitled " The
Lords on their Trial." But as the Lords can now be
scarcely said to be any longer "on their trial" (having
pronounced fur themselves their own acquittal) any ex-
tension of its reasoning would be superfluous.

FRASER'S.
Fraser, for this month, has no political article, pro-
perly so called, and the only allusion to the politics of
the day, is to be found in an article on the Broad and
Narrow Gauge, (the writer of which is an ardent ad-
vocate of the Narrow) in which towards the conclusion
occurs the following passage:—
"Bat a period is, perhaps, at hand, when large and small
engines shall disappear altogether; when Mr. Stephenson's
new galloper, backed at 10,0001. against twice his weight ;
when the Mammoth engines, big and beautiful as they are,
splendidly rushing down their broad streams of iron, shall
give place to something still more rapid and powerful—the
atmospheric principle, which Mr. Brunel believes in. Then
let them be rolled to the National Museum, and take their
places beside Henry the Eighth's gun, or the figure of the
dethroned Jupiter, or the st _date of the repealed corn-laws."
We hope that the protectionists, as a party, will
henceforward yield as gracefully to the clearly ex-
pressed wishes of the people, and regard the repeal of
the corn-laws as un fail accompli. But if we have no
article on special politics in the present number of Fra-
ser, we have laid down, in an admirable article on the
Education of the Army, certain axioms in general
politics in the truth of which we must cordially
concur.
" It may savour of the paradox—yet we believe the senti-
ment to be just—that the very last persons who deserve to
be consulted, in regard to substantial reforms in any of the
great institutions of this country, are those who, in their own
persons, constitute a portion of the moving principle, so to
speak, in such institutions. Men seldom attain to what is
called influence in their professions, or offices, or occupations,
whatever these may be, till they have; arrived at the verge,
at least, of old age; men seldom arrive at the verge of old
age, as members of a profession, or of a public body of any
sort, without having their minds overlaid by an impenetrable
crust of prejudice, and their reason itself clouded and ob-
scured through the growth of settled habits both of think-
ing and of acting. Take the Church—as we are accustomed
to use that term, most improperly restricting it to signify
the bishops and clergy—does any sane man believe that they
are the best judges in regard to arrangements that may be
needed if we seek to give the greatest efficiency to the mi-
nistrations of their order among the people? What ecclesi-
astic would have originated—what ecclesiastic did not in his
heart condemn the measures which were begun by Sir Robert
Peel in 1835, and are still in progress? The clergy looked
ten years only to what they described as the respectability
of their own order ; they argued in defence of superabundant
cathedral offices, of pluralities, commendams, and Lord
knows all what, because, forsooth, the chance of getting a
good slice out of the loaves and fishes, lured young men of
high birth and first-rate talents into the ministry. They en-
tirely overlooked the fact, that while these continued, hun-
dreds of thousands of the people were famishing for
want of spiritual food, and hundreds, if not thou-
sands, of hard-working clergymen, starving upon
benefices, o
which
ssibhpicohblry a hundred.oughtthe Sir Robert them inof forty
t pounds
Peel, a
layman,a-year
or eighty,
took a different view offotrheduponsubject;h
tbee chingsuuprnph reforms,ortedby
of
Par-
liament, he lite.ially forced
may, perhaps,
which all among the clergy, exceptthe
few who have got
beyond the age when men discover that
they
the who have
"
Fraser is right, an
be mistaken, now ackndo,wkaloeedthigienretghteeeramm
uebrietsmore absurd than
. men
to employ in
f the abuses which
Led with, beingis connec the existence o who imagine that their well-
been nurturedthien,l'a'on'd
c
it to ise mdesired to abolish; and as it
smalmde beof
church
reform, or army men in devising a scheme of army
re-
re-
form,form: osor inred-istapeitsitosaiiy
absurddevising t
o a
m
de-
vising a scheme of law reform, or to consult medical
e schemepl o
y
lawyersofficial
men on any scheme of medical reform; and if Sir J.
in
Graham, instead of listening to the selfish absurdities
propounoduedthetoohnoimhabnyd,paunrdebyphp3arsricians and pure sur-
geons"
all at" general practitionersr on thee
pur-
sued his own course,
haNT•ehebenuenositn apothecaries, car
hand,ies aud
em,egdt;ided by the plain dictates of
common sense, the
interestingtits present
w.or world t
i ewouldle in n
thet
pa
rt e
sthis
t
momentdisorder.
number of Fraser is the opening one on the " Man-
ners, Traditions, and Superstig'tiaons, of the Shet-
i we exneewct .t'lviculd for
lourand e r s. "
book-makinglt ha
tourists, opened
andu
the ensuing spring we shall be inundatedpwith duringastke
ketches
from Shetland." . Colonel Mitchell continues his on the principal campaigns in the rise of Napoleonpapaenrcel
proves most learnedly that the Emperor ought not to have won the Battle of Austerlitz. 'What a pity it is
that Colonel Mitchell was not consulted by the Austrian
and na—inn and Prussian genernis on that occasion.
IlAti ire liekm ii, is e‘icient that VV-eiitoo,un would have
been still Sir Arthur Wellesley, for Napoleon would
have been destroyed ten years before the Battle of

Waterloo. Colonel Mitchell, however, is by no means
original in the line which he has taken up, for years ago
General Foy proved by somewhat similar arguments
that the Duke of Wellington ought to have been beaten in
every battle that he fought. The Duke, however, seems
to care nothing for the criticisms of General. Foy ;
and Napoleon, were he alive, would, no doubt, care as
little for the criticisms of Colonel Mitchell. In an arti-
cle on French newspapers, the amende honorable is made
to the French newspaper writers for an undiscriminating
attack made upon them in the number of last month.
The fact is, the French press is disgraced by the exist-
ence of certain scandalous newspapers in the same man-
ner as the English press, but the Dejarriers, Beauvallons,
and Emile de Girandins, the conductors of the Presse and
of the Epoque, are not to be confounded with the decent
portion of the press, such as the Journal des Debats, the
C'onstitutionnel, the Aational. and the &ale, and the
Courrier Francais for instance. The article is well
worthy of perusal, as giving a fair and just account of
French newspapers and French newspaper writers. We
have also a witty article on beggars, a well-written cri-
ticism on British poets, and an admirably finished pen-
and. ink picture of Mr. Shiel as an orator. Altogether
this is an excellent number of Fraser.

CHANCES OF ACCIDENT ON
RAILWAYS.
Among the matters connected with railway travelling,
the chances of accident naturally arrest attention. The
number who are injured, compared with the number who
travel, is exceedingly small ; but it will be seen, from
the details subjoined that it varies widely from year to
year, and that to reduce it to a minimum, constant vigi-
lance and strict rules rigidly enforced, are indispensable.
In the report, the accidents are divided into four
classes

1844.—CLASS FIRST.
Accidents attended with personal injury or danger
to the public arising from causes beyond the con-
trol of passengers
Persons killed
10
Persons injured
74
Of the persons killed, 4 were railway servants, engine-
men, or stokers, and 6 were passengers. Of the persons
injured, 10 were railway servants, and 64 were passen-
gers. The 33 accidents include many which were not
attended with injury to any person, such as axles break-
ing, engines running off the rails for a short distance,
slight collisions with trucks left on the line, &c. By
one accident on the London and Croydon Railway, 20
passengers and 3 railway servants were injured. Nobody
was killed. It arose from a train in which the red light
it should have carried had gone out, being run into
another train.

CLASS SECOND.
Accidents attended with personal injury to pas-
angers, owing to their negligence or misconduct 16
Persons killed
7
Persons injured
It may serve as a useful caution to railway travellers
to state the accidents which caused the seven deaths.
Those which produced injuries were nearly of the same
description.

Imprudently putting his leg out at the door, it was
caught between the platform and carriages, and so much
injured as to cause death.

Attempting to sit on the back of a third-class carriage,
overbalanced himself, and fell betsv een the carriages.
Jumped out of a carriage after his hat while the train
was in motion.

Attempting to enter a second•class carriage while in
motion.

Attempting to leave the train before it had properly
stopped, MI, and was run over.

,
Jumped out before the train had stopped, and run
over. Intoxicated.
Feil from a third-class carriage, and run over.
CLASS THIRD.
_

Accidents attended with personal injury to railway
servants, under circumstances not involving dan-
ger to the public
Persons killed ..
Persons injured

50
33
28
CLASS FOURTH.
Accidents attended with injury to persons other
than servants of the railway companies, under
circumstances not involving danger to passengers 4g
Persons killed .
Persons injured
These were trespassers. drunk persons, children,
labourers imprudently crossing the lines when a train
was approaching, and the like.

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY 111ORNIN"G, JUNE 1, 1846.

upon the natives. If nothing Were to be done for the
colonies for another year, he advised the directors
to gtve 'up the attempt to carry on the govern-
ment and the affairs of the colony, to throw the respon-
sibility upon the 111inistry, and to quit the field of action,
from which. they had been driven by injustice and im-
pulicy.---(Cheers.) The directors were told that the ob-
ject they had in view would be accomplished by the in-
struction's last sent out to Governor Grey. He doubted
this, and thought the Company
.ought to have an act of
Parhament, securing to the colony, a representative go-
vernment. A general reform of the system by which the
colonies were governed, was what was wanted, and until
the colonies made common cause together, their interest
would continue to suffer. When Mr. Ewart, the other
evening, brought forward a motion exhibiting the gross-
est instance of mismanagement in the case of Van Die-
men's Land, the House was counted out. Only twenty-
seven members were present on a motion affecting the
very existence, and well-being of a colony. If all the in-
jterests of the colonies were brought to bear on this sub-
ect, success would be certain, for never in a better cause
did men appeal to the sympathies of all wise and right
thinking persons.—(Cheers.)
Mr. CLARKE wished to know in what position a dis-
sentient proprietor would be placed, and what compen-
sation would be due to the company from the Government
if they took the company's land. Four years ago, he had
paid down money, which he could ill afford to lose, for
land which he understood was guaranteed, and now his
title was, he feared, little better than a waste sheet of
paper.

Dr. BOWRING thought the directors had done right in
throwing the responsibility upon the Government, and
he hoped that Parliament would feel bound to protect the
shareholders against loss. He seconded the motion, that
the report be received and adopted.
The Noble Chairman having been compelled to leave
the meeting shortly after the commencement of the
proceedings,
➢lr. AGLIONBY, who took the chair, in reply to the
first question of Mr. Clarke, said the voice of the majo-
rity would bind the meeting. He hoped he would not
press for an answer upon the other point.
After a few words from other proprietors in support
of the resolution, the Chairman put the motion, which
was pp ssed unanimously amidst applause. The retiring
directors and auditors were then re-elected, and after a
vote of thanks to the directors for the skill and ability
with which they had conducted the affairs of the com-
pany, the meeting broke up.

MARYLEBONE VESTRY.

SIR P. LAURIE AND PERAMBULATING STREET-ADVER-
TISING VANS.
On Saturday the Marylebone Vestry was especially
convened to consider a resolution, of which notice had
been given by Sir Peter Laurie, with respect to taking
steps to ensure. the abolition of street advertising vans.
Mr. E. Joseph was in the chair, and the vestry was
more fully attended than usual, out of the one hundred
and twenty-five members composing it there being pre-
sent upwards of one hundred gentlemen, among whom we
observed Lord Keynon, Earl Manvers, Lord Strafford,
Lord Montfort, Sir James Hamilton, Sir Walter Stirling,
Sir Peter Laurie, Mr. W. Williams, M. P., John Thomas
Hope, Esq., Martin Thackery, Esq., the Rev. R. Wal-
pole, the Rev. D. Fellowes, Mr.(ex-Sheriff) Salamons, &c.
Sir PETER LAURIE, in bringing forward his motion,
said :—Although some persons might view the subject
to which he was about to direct the attention of the
vestry as a very trivial matter, and that in doing so he
might himself be subject to ridicule, still he had no he-
sitation in declaring the perambulating street van sys-
tem, which had recently sprung up in the metropolis, as
one of the greatest nuisances that had ever been inflicted
on the inhabitants of London.—(Hear, hear.) He (Sir
Peter Laurie) took credit to himself for having, with the
aid of Mr. Fox Maule, then Secretary of State, succeeded
in ridding the country of two other nuisances which had
previously existed, namely, the horrible practice of climb-
ing boys in chimney-sweepirg and the monstrous dog-
cart nuisance.—(Hear hear and laughter.) If for no-
thing else he (Sir Peter Laurie) thought those two
acts were sufficient to hand his name down to pos-
terity.—(Cheers and laughter.) The nuisance he now
had to complain of, and which, if it were possible, he
was determined to put down, was the prevalent practice
of allowing large square boxes, reaching in some in-
stances nearly as high as second floor windows, to per-
ambulate the crowded streets of London, covered with
the advertising placards of puffing tradesmen, horrible
murders, and penny concerts. These perambulating
advertising machines had become so fashionable that
the principal thoroughfares were frequently completely
block up with them, and their proprietors made vast
sums of money thereby. He (Sir P. Laurie) had re-
cently set a city officer to inquire into the matter, and
he found that a man named Taylor, living at Hoxton,
simply for exhibiting a bill of the Britannia Saloon on
one of his vans charged 255. per week, and although the
horses employed in these machines were so old that it
might be attended with considerable difficulty to get
them along at a rate exceeding four miles an hour, yet
these people could not find enough horses and vans
for, their business.—(Hear, hear, and laughter.) Now,
after Parliament, he (Sir Peter Laurie) looked upon
the Corporation of London and the Marylebone vestry
as the fourth estate of the realm—(Laughter)—and
when the Government or the Legislature of the country
failed' to discover and check abuses, it was the duty of
these bodies to take the lead in doing so, and bring the
matter under the notice of the Executive Government.
There were continually local Acts passing through Par-
liament, and the object he (Sir Peter Laurie) had in
view, was to call the attention of the Secretary of State
to this matter, and get him to introduce a clause into
one of them, which would effectually put an end to the
nuisance complained of. If this were done, he had no
doubt, like Mr. Fox Maule, the Secretary of State
would aid them in the object. He (Sir Peter Laurie)
had no desire to dictate to the Government the precise
clause which should be introduced, but he held in his
hand one which had been drawn up by a legal friend,
and which he considered would serve as the ground-
work of a clause. The worthy knight here read the
proposed clause, which was to the effect, that for every
offence of either drawing or driving through the public
streets of the metropolis a van covered with an advertis-
ing placard,.or placards, the owner of such van should
be subject to a penalty not exceeding 31. There was
vnother point in connexion with these vans in which
the law was evaded. If any person were to take one of
these vans before his friend Mr. Rawlinson, the magis-
trate (who he was glad to see present), and show to the
worthy magistrate that these vans bore no name what-
ever in accordance with the Act of Parliament, he had
no doubt he would fine them. He (Sir P. Laurie) had
seen from ten to twenty of these advertising vans in one
day, without any name upon them except those on the
placards, and if he did not succeed with his present plan,
it was his determination to have the drivers of all vans
he found without the names, whether they had the
placards of Madame Tussaud's Exhibition or any one else,
before Mr. Rawlinson, or some other magistrate, and get
them convicted, as he was determined to put the nuisance
down. He was glad to find present his Noble Friend (Earl
Manvers), who had written to him to say he would
give the matter his cordial support, and he now begged
to move, " That a deputation from the vestry be ap-
pointed to wait upon the Secretary of State, and urge
him to introduce a clause into some act to abolish the
advertising van nuisance."
Earl Manveas seconded the resolution and with the
greatest cordiality, although he found his friend Sir
Peter Laurie had not complied with the request in his
(Earl Manver's) letter—namely, when he had read it
to light his pipe with it—(Laughter.) He considered
that all classes of the community might agree with him
that these perambulating advertising vans were the
greatest abomination with which the streets of London
were at present affected. They were the vehicles by
which the vendors of corn plaister, cheap tea, and puf-
fing Sunday newspapers deceived the public.
Mr. RAWLINSON (the magistrate) hoped the vestry
had too much good sense to pass the resolution of the
worthy knight. The law was at present sufficiently
effective to put down the nuisance complained of.
Mr. RIDGWAY agreed with the learned magistrate who
had just sat down that the existing law was sufficient to
destroy the nuisance ; but it would place the worthy
knight as the ehampion of its destruction in the position
of a common informer.—(Laughter.) He equallydetested
these perambulating machines with the worthy mover,
and looked upon the placards placed on them as false
reports to swindle the honest tradesman, and gull the
public. If the police had the common sense to study the
clauses of the Police Act they would find it was their
duty to abolish the nuisance • but, alas I how few of the
police were gifted with the slightest particle of common
sense.—(Laughter.)
Mr. TABRIIM supported the motion on the ground that
these ponderous machines were not only a nuisance, but
dangerous to the public.
Mr. H. C. WILSON said there could be no doubt but
these advertising vans did geat injury to legitimate trade;
but he thought, as far as the nuisance was concerned,
there were many vehicles used for the ordinary purposes
of trade which were much more dangerous. He thought
it far better that the attention of the Secretary of State
should be called to the subject in general terms, than
that they should frame a clause for Government.
Mr. G. DANIELL said the difference in the opinion of
the two worthy magittrates, as to the power of the law,
was exceedingly strange. He, however, agreed with the
Noble Earl (Manvers). It was only a day or two since
he saw Fleet-street completely blocked up by seven of
these vans passing along in succession.
Mr. SALAMONS was exceedingly glad that Sir Peter
Laurie had brought forward this important subject. He
had himself been so frequently annoyed by these ad-
vertising vans, that he would not, for one moment, have
hesitated to have incurred the odium, if there was any,
in becoming a public prosecutor, could he have dis-
covered the names of the owners upon them. There
was the greatest difficulty in getting either names or
number; and at least some steps ought to be taken to
identify them, by placing the names of the owners upon
them in a similar manner to the names painted on a
farmer's cart.—(Hear, hear.)
Sir PETER LAURIE said he never was more surprised
say
than to hear Mr. Rawlinson there was an Act of
Parliament existing to put down these perambulating
machines.

Mr. RAIVLINSON—I meant by indictment.—(oh, oh.)
Sir P. LAURIE said that was the very cry he was met
with when he first tried to put down that monster nui-
sance which had existed in Marylebone some years ago,
and which swindled the nublic out of something like
300,0001. He meant the 'West Middlesex InkiFance
Company.—(Hear, hear, and laughter.) " Oh," said the
local magistracy, "you must proceed by indictment ;"
bnt he (Sir P. Laurie) got the poor victims to come out
of the district, and he shut the whole concern up in four-
and-twenty hours. He thought the vestry, who had
the power, ought to take this matter up. They
had already seen the effect of the power they
had through the press concerning the fair at
Chalk Farm, and he called upon them
must see thato exercise it in
this particular. Every man in his senses
d ere only intended
these vehicles were it nuisance, on w