The Sun.
London, England, 1846-04-14 00:00:00

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uttelsiaranoiwgeneehsrs:ai even to that higher literature from which I
materials were to be drawn. The lives of Galileo and '
Kepler by Mr. Drinkwater (Bethune) are well-known
and very prominent instances.
In various works of the mathematical series, the Society
has had the satisfaction of doing for non-academical
readers throughout the empire what the University of
Cambridge has done within 'the last thirty years for its
own students, namely, of placing before them, in our own
obligations
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ductions as the large Astronomical Maps and the
" Statistical Account of the British Empire," &c., the
Committee have endeavoured to help those who were
engaged in profound researches of different kinds ; while
in the tracts on " Capital and Labour," the " Results of
Machinery," the " Manual for Mechanics' Institutes,"
&c., they have tried to bring sound materials for thought
to the door and the band of the working man. In the
wide range that lies between these two, their efforts can
only be summed up by the enumeration of all branches
of knowledge ; and it is with no small pride they reflect
upon the fact that their publications are used in every
part of the empire, from the cottage to the mansion. As
many individuals as there are in the country who can
read, so many are there who have seen and used some of
the works which the Society has put forth. In all this
it will clearly be understood that the Committee claims
not an author's part, bat a publisher's. Yet., at the same
time their duty as publishers has been combined with
that of superindence, revision, suggestion, and, occasion-
ally, assistance in the obtaining of information. Except
in cases where a work was in the hands of an editor or
author known to the Society by former experience, or
warranted by well established reputation, superintendence
has been more than nominal. In some cases, the extent
of a work has been usefully increased at the express
desire of the Society ; in others, as usefully diminished.
In the labour of superintendence the Society has much
obligation, over and above what has been already stated,
to acknowledge to many present and former members cf
the Committee ; particularly to Captain Beaufort for his
skilful care of the series of maps, and to Sir John
Lubbock for his active attention to all that relates
to the sciences in which he has gained his well
established reputation. And while mentioning a former
member of the Committee, whose name is so honourably
associated with the higher branches of astronomy, the
Committee have the satisfaction of remembering that
the researches on the tides were partly suggested by
the necessities of the Society's Almanac, and that the
expenses were partly defrayed from the Society's funds.
While alluding to those who are, and have been mem-
bers of the Committee, whose services have been of
more than common extent and usefulness, it is impose
sible for the Committee to forget the late Earl Spencer.
To this nobleman the Society was under the deepest
obligations, as well for his attention to its publications,
particularly to those relating to history and agriculture,
as for his constant and active participation in its
general management. The Society has never ex-
perienced a greater loss than it sustained in the unex-
pected death of this tried and trusty friend of every im-
provement. The " Biographical Dictionary " was a
work in which he took the deepest interest: he was, in-
deed, its first suggester, and he gave liberal aid towards
the publication.
The Committee have alluded to their determination
not to interfere in theology or politics. They have also
mentioned the opposition excited by their presumed in-
difference to religion and public order. But the enemies
of their cause were not their only assailants. At the
commencement of their career, nothing was more com-
mon than remonstrances from friends of the diffusion of
knowledge, blaming them in strong terms for supplying
to the public nothing but literature and science, and
neglecting, from fear of misconstruction, matters of the
highest importance to social happiness. Six years ago,
when the circumstances of the time seemed favourable,
the Committee so far departed from the usual practice
as to publish a series of political treatises, drawn up by
their chairman, forming the only accessible work in
which the existing constitutions of the principal coun-
tries in the world are described both in principle and de-
tail. But the event showed strong reasons to conclude
that the part of the public which called out for politics
wanted, not knowledge of facts nor lessons of experi-
ence, but only stimulus for party feeling, and materials
for party discussions. The Society accordingly gave up
the intention of completing the above-named series, and
abandoned a work on Political Economy which had been
prepared.
In conclusion, the Committee congratulate all who
feel as they do upon the spirit of improvement now so
actively displayed, and trust that it will not tire until i+
has achieved the universal education of the people. As
employed in effecting their object by printed publica-
tions, which are principally addressed to those who
have received some mental culture, they have always
felt that the door cf communication between them and
large masses of the community was but a very little way
open. But they have the satisfaction of seeing and
knowing that at least there is now no further obstacle to
those whn have made the first step, and of feeling that
they have been instrumental in removing the subse-
quent hindrance. The time is coming, they trust, when
all will act upon what most now see—namely, that
knowledge, though it adds power to evil, adds tehfold
power to good; when there shall be no part of the com-
munity on which this maxim shall not have been veri-
fied; and when the Society for the Diffusion of Useful
Knowledge shall be co-extensive with society itself.
42, Bedford-square, March 11, 1846.

OPENING OF THE RAMSGATE
BRANCH OF THE SOUTH-EASTERN RAIL-

WAY.

The Ramsgate branch of the South-Easteim Railway
was opened yesterday. The directors, including the
chairman, Mr. Macgregor, Lord Torrington, Mr. Har-
ding,
Mr. Randall, lilt the Bricklayers' Arms station at.
half-past eleven o'clock, in a special train, for the pur-
pose of being present at a public dinner, to which they
had been invited by the authorities of Ramsgate in cele-
bration of the event. The train, which was decorated
with flags, and carried a brass band, consisted of ten
carriages. At Tunbridge and Ashford a considerable
addition was made to the number of passengers. At
Canterbury a very numerous concourse of persons
awaited the arrival of the special train, and greeted it
with hearty cheering as it entered the station. At the
same moment that the special train came abreast of the
offices, a train of 24 carriages, crammed with inhabi-
tants of Ramsgate, who had been permitted by the
liberality of the directors of the Company to have a
free trip to Canterbury, also reached the station, and
mingled their cheers with those of the inhabitants of the
latter town. After waiting a few minutes to take in
other passengers .the train proceeded over the new
branch, which is nearly 16 miles in length. The
works, for the first 13 miles are very light, the greater
portion being on the natural surface of the land.
The characteristic gradient of this portion of the line is
lin 264. Beyond the 13th mile the works enter the
chalk, and the gradient is 1 in 100 for about three miles
The works, which have been constructed under the
superintendence of Mr. Cubitt, jun., assisted by Mr.
Ford, the resident engineer of this branch, are substan-
tial, and admirably executed. They reflect much credit.
upon those gentlemen as well as upon the contractors.
The opening of this branch places Ramsgate,
Whit-
stable, Canterbury, Ashford, Dover, and Folkestone in
railway communication with each other. Margate, to
which place the South-Eastern Company are construct-
ing a line, will soon bo added to the list..
Ramsgate. The streets through which it was known
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they would pass in their way to the Albion, at which.
the dinner was to take place, was literally one mass of
royal standards, union jacks, and every possible descrip-
tion of flag. That these marks of joyfulness were tic;
empty ones, may perhaps be best gathered from the fact
that nearly every shop in the town was closed. In truth,
the people of Ramsgate are evidently quite sensible of
the benefit which must flow to them from their connexion
by railway with Canterbury, Ashford, and the metro-
polis, and they testified this not only by the enthusiastic
manner in which they received the directors when they
reached the terminus, and cheered them as they passed
through. the town, but also by the frank and cordial re-
ception they gave them at the festive board.
About 140 gentlemen sat down to dinner at the
Albion. Mr. Sackette, the deputy, presided, and was
supported by the most wealthy and influential inhabi-
tants of the town, by the Mayor of Canterbury, the
Deputy of Margate, and by a considerable number of
the local magistracy. We also observed several of the
influential proprietors of the railway, who had also been
invited to attend.

Some very excellent speeches were delivered after
dinner. The chairman (Mr. Sackette), in a short but
pithy address, pointed out the advantage which railway
communication with the metrppolis musk be to Rams-
gate, possessing as it does a harbour accessible at all
states of the tide, and disposed, as the directors of the
South-Eastern Company had proved themselves to be, to
afford every facility in their power to render the journey
from London to (Mend, via Ramsgate, both speedy and
convenient. They had placed two splendid steam-boats
on the station, second to none both for speed and accom-
modation, and had manifested their earnest desire to
afford every facility to render available the natural ad-
vantages of Ramsgate for the passage between London
and the north of Europe.
The chairman was followed by the Mayor of Canter-
bury, who spoke of the benefit that had already been
conferred upon Canterbury by the railway; by the
Deputy of Margate, who expressed a hope that he should
have the pleasure of entertaining the South• Eastern
directors as his guests at Margate; by the Rev. Mr.
Snowden, who spoke of the moral advantage which an
extension of the railroad system is calculated to
confer on society, and by many of the, inhabitants,
some of whom pledged themselves to use every
possible exertion to second the energy and libe-
rality which had marked the exertions of the
South-Eastern Company in the extension of their line to
Ramsgater and in placing fast and commodious steam
boats upon the station, to run between that port and