The Sun.
London, England, 1846-12-15 00:00:00

a soldi

aaing tie

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sdo out, and,' n

(•fie of the .vristOandi with the wre:.,,
addition, had forg•tten to place n second buttonhole in
front. The soldier had perceived this last-named fault,
and had pot a second one made, which, being worked
by another person, was bitter done than the other one.
If the shirt submitted to her, the woman said, was that

of which she spoke, the tokens just alluded to would be
easily perceptible. On examination, the marks alluded
to were all found to be exact, and there could be no
doubt that she had sold the shirt to the murderer of the
two girls. The woman added that she recollected also
that the man had said that he bad been a drummer, and
had spoken of lodging at the aaberge of a man named
Gesse. The latter being brought forward, deposed that
-a man had-for some short time lodged in his house,
but he did not know his name. He also declared

that the man in question had returned home ex-
ceedingly late on the night of the 27th of November,
which was the date of the murder. The question next
to be solved was, who was this man ? A workman
came forward, and stated that he had known him
for some time ; that his name was Carcasses ; that he
had been a drummer in the army, and he generally re-
sided at Puylaurens, in the department of the Tarn. A
corroborative proof of the identity of the man spoken of
with the murderer was afforded by the deposition of a
trumpeter of the 21st Light Infantry, who declared that
he had contrived to get out of barracks at half-past one,
on the night of the 27th, and had gone to the lodging of
the two girls. When he knocked, one of them told him
that he could not enter, as the drummer, whom he had
seen a few days before with them, was inside, and they
could not admit any one that night. The trumpeter
then withdrew. The chain of evidence appearing com-
plete, measures were then taken to arrest Carcasses,
and he was taken prisoner at Puylaurens. One of his
boots was found to be stained with blood. He had in
his possession a sum of 345 f., for which he could not
satisfactorily account, and had also in his room some
handkerchiefs bearing the initials of the girls. He was
interrogated at great length by the Procureur du Roi,
and, being unable to account for the manner in which he
spent the night of November 27, refused to answer any
other questions. He was then delivered over to the cus-
tody of the gendarmes, who locked him carefully up.
They, however, were so imprudent as to leave him by
himself, in place of keeping him constantly in view.
The consequence was that, when they entered his room
in the morning, they found he had hanged himself with
a handkerchiel.—Galignanes Messenger.

SANDWICH ISLANDS.—HONOLULU, JUNE 20.—A
fleet of 210 - whale ships has been in at Lahaina this
spring, and about 70 at other ports. They have all
gone to seek cargoes on the north-west of Japan. Two,
the Albion and Midas, have already returned ; the one
leaking 2,000 strokes per hour, and the other with the
loss of her topmasts. The Meteor, Captain Lester,
arrived the same day in a state of mutiny, the crew
having confined the captain and officers below, undcrplea
of ill-treatment. The mutineers were taken out of the
ship, at the instance of the Consul, and confined in the
fort. The United States ship Shark has just been re-
paired here, at an expense of about 14,000 dollars, and
sails shortly for the Oregon. Her Britannic Majesty's
steamer Cormorant, 1,000 tons, 3 guns, arrived here a
few weeks since, and after a stay of a few days departed,
fir no one knows where. It is generally believed, how-
ever, that she left for Puget's Sound, expecting to meet
Admiral Seymour there, in the Collingwood. Reports
of fortifications and military stores have reached us
here, as connected with the Admiral's visit to the
north. The utmost mystery is now made by
English officers of the movements of their vessels
this way. The steamer being the first that had ever
visited these islands, created a great sensation among the
native population. Just previous to the high duties
upon wines and spirits, enough of both were imported
under the present scale to have produced 50,000 dollars
duties. Since then, 10,000 dollars on spirits alone have
been received in bond at the Custom-house. The influx
of goods ,here from all quarters continues to increase,
but not the means of paying for them. Retail prices,
on many descriptions of goods, are becoming less than
in America. Hawaian registers are in great request for
vessels in California, to prevent accidents in case of war
between Mexico and the United States, or in the event
of England's making a sudden swoop upon our marine.
One Mexican, one American, and one English have al-
ready been put under this flag, by changing owners at
this port. The Mexicans treat it with much respect.
Commander Stockton, United States ship Congress,
arrived on the 9th instant, thirty-one days from Callao.
He immediately landed his prssengers, the new Com-
missioner and Consul, with their families, who were re-
ceived with much pleasure by all parties. Commander
Stockton placed himself at once above the contemptible
local squabbles of the place, treated the Government
with the utmost courtesy, and speedily arranged matters
on an amicable footing for the new officials.—Boston
(United States) Atlas.
Jean Lussac, living as out-servant with Mme.
Laroze, at St. Andri-da-Bois, near Toulouse, under-
standing that his mistress had received 600 f. for some
wine which she had sold, persuaded a man, named
Jean Sudreau, to become his accomplice in robbing
the house of that sum. On an appointed night they
met, and Lussac undertook to enter the house
whilst the other kept watch outside. A few
moments after Lussac went in Sudreau heard piercing
' cries and then all was silent. Lussac soon came
out, bringing with him the money, which Sudreau
and he divided equally. The next morning Lussac
went to theneighbours, and declared that having, as
usual, gone to his work, he found the door of his mis-

HUSH RAILROADS,

THE WATERFORD,

WEXFORD,

WICKLOW,

AND DUBLIN COMPANY.
(From the Anus.)
The importance of railways to Ireland is ehvieus. To
country possessing almost every element of national
prosperity except capital, they present the most direct
means of ultimately supplying that great want. In the
present circumstances of Ireland they are peculiarly
valuable as a source of immediate employment, and as a
vital agent for vivifying existing forms of industry and
creating new ones. But railroad enterprise, to be of
practical utility to Ireland, must be conducted with the
utmost caution. The danger is as imminent as the utility.
Ireland is not in a condition for experiments. She
cannot afford failures. The only railroads that can, in
the existing state of things, be of any use to Ireland,
or that ought to be sanctioned in that country, are
railroads that present a reasonable chance of success.
Projects that are likely to expire amongst the gam-
blers in the share market—or upon which the calls are
never likely to be paid up—or that' cannot yield
remunerating returns, even if established—ought to be
abandoned. The great money power of England enables
her to play with risks which would be destruction to
Ireland. In England it is all very well to say that
wherever there is a turnpike road there must be a rail-
way ; and no doubt, in the end, the exulting prophecy
will come to pass, because we have plenty of money to
carry us over the unprofitable interval which must elapse
before it can be realised. But in that interval the bulk
of the subscribers to an Irish railroad would perish.
These sounding generalities, which represent the omni-
potence of capital rather than the inevitable operations of
necessity, are wholly inapplicable to Ireland. There is
no money power in Ireland ; not a superfluous shilling
to expend upon theoretical schemes ; hardly enough,
indeed, to supply the exigencies of the hour. In Ireland,
therefore, every advance made in this direction must be
made with a forewarning of the gravest responsibility.
There must be no squandering ; no wild speculation ;
or, instead of conferring benefits upon the country, the
extension of railways will only increase her embarrass-
ments, and place her still farther beyond the reach of
ordinary social remedies.
The company whose title we have cited above affords
a very complete illustration of the practical evils we ap-
prehend from rash and ill-advised railroad speculations
in Ireland. The objections to this line are so strong,
and lie so conspicuously on the surface, that, had there
not been a special inducement, to which we will come
presently, it would be surprising how a sufficient num-
ber of subscribers could have been drawn together in
the first instance, or why, having had ample time to con-
sider their situation, they do not now dissolve. The
failure of such a line, with a rominal capital of a mil-
lion sterling, would entail incalculable calamities upon
the country. She could not endure the consequences of
so fatal an error. She lacks the elastic spring by which
wealthier communities recover themselves from a false
step.

The objections to this line are twofold. First, it can-

not pay—an objection large enough in itself to include
all others. Second, it is impossible to raise the requi-
site capital. Undoubtedly these are peculiar features in
a railway which has already procured its Act of Parlia-
ment. But it must be remembered that the scene of
these eccentric ;operations is Ireland, and that the sub-
scription to the deeds was obtained at a time when na-
tional credulity was agape for every project, however
absurd, and when it was believed that there was a sor-
cery in prospectuses to conjure traffic out of a desert.
The line proposes to run from Dublin, through Wick-
low and Wexford, to Waterford. Any person ac-
quainted with the country must know that there is no
business intercourse of any kind along this road. The
only portion of it traversed by a travelling population is
that which is embraced in the first fifteen or twenty
miles into Wicklow, whose beauties, surrounded by a
cestus of romantic hills, never fail to attract the wander-
ing eyes of visitors, and the picnics of the slumberous
metropolis. Through the summer, possibly, a few
pleasure-trains might yield a reernmerating return. The
value of property, too, in the immediate neighbourhood,
might be improved. But all this would be only fair
weather prosperity. The moment winter sets in, the oc-
cupation of the green rallies and mazy woods is over ;
and the business of a Wicklow railroad would virtually
cease. People are not fond of making gay excursions in
dreary December, or eating cold dinners on the saturated
grass, under a forest of umbrellas.
The rest of the line passes for the most part through
a country dissually relieved here and there by stretches
of sand, barren heaths, and long undulating hills. The
population is wretched, and, in some places, plunged
into the lowest depths of misery. A few farms are
scattered at distant intervals, but none of them rich or
large ; gentlemen's seats are still more rare ; and there
are no evidences anywhere of the material progress
which either requires a railroad, or which is likely at
present to be benefited by one. The whole intercourse
along the line is now carried on by two coaches—a morn-
ing coach and a night mail; and so languid is the traffic,
that the post-office finds it necessary to allow a much
higher rate of mileage here than in other places, to ena-
ble the contractors to make up for the deficiency of
passengers. Yet an Act of Parliament has been ob-
tained for constructing a railway through these unpro-
fitable districts, over which a miracle must be worked
before any prospect of a return can ever be looked for.
The history of the company is instructive. It started
under the auspices of the Board of the Great Western of
England, who contemplated a chain of communication
through the South line across to Wexford, and thence
by this new line to Dublin, forming, upon the whole, a
more accessible route between London and Dublin, than
any now in existence. The name of the Great Western
was a tower of strength. The Irish constituency be-
lieved that they were safe under the shelter of that vast
monopoly; and in the confident expectation that the line
would be either leased or purchased by the Great
Western, the shares were rapidly subscribed. As the
time, however, approached for closing the Parliamentary
contract, it seems that there was not a sufficient amount
subscribed to enable the directors to go before Parlia•
meat, and during the last three days a number of in-
fluential gentlemen put their names to the contract for
various sums from 10,0001. to 300,000/. each. They
were just in time to save the Bill, and the Bill was saved
accordingly.
But it is now discovered that the Great Western has
no intention whatever of either leasing or purchasing
the line. The Great Western intends to wait very
wisely till the line is formed; and then it is not im
probable the Great Western may treat with the ruined
directory. In the meanwhile, what course is the direc-
tory adopting? The English reader will infer at once
that they have determined to wind up and dissolve, since
the temptation which called them into existence is with
drawn. No:—he xill never guess that, in the face of
difficulties which may be described as being absolutely
insurmountable, they have announced their intention of
prosecuting their scheme! Now, this is precisely one of
the projects which, if persisted in, must inflict irreparable
mischief upon Ireland.
The mass of the allottees are Irish; they are persons of
Small, or of no capital; they subscribed on the faith of
the Great Western; and now, finding that there is no
expectation of assistance from that quarter, they would
gladly retire from the speculation. But how is this to
be done? The majority of them have parted with their
scrip, although it seems not with their responsibility.
The directors have announced their determination to re-
gister the original allottees, and thus :fix them for the
calls. Let us see the effect of this proceeding.
By holding the allottees to their responsibility, the
directors deprive themselves of the means (if means can
ever be obtained) of carrying out the line. The bulk of
the allottees cannot pay their calls ; they could as easily
pay the national debt. Any attempt to enforce payment
will only aggravate the general difficulty. On the other
hand, the act of shutting out from registration the pur-
chasers of scrip, who may he presumed to be upon the
whole a more solvent class than allottees who subscribe
and sell, is an act of gross injustice, which literally
amounts to a forfeiture of property. This movement,
then, of the directors affects two very large constituen-
cies—the allottees who are still chained to their respon-
sibility, and the holders of scrip who are threatened with
confiscation. It has seldom h ippened that such a com-
plicated power of doing mischief has been roncentrated
in the action of a Railway Committee.
But what is to become of the great supporters of the
line who subscribed 20,0001 and 30,0001. each ? Are
they to be held responsible with thereat of the allottees?
Everybody knows that subscriptions of this extravagant
kind are merely intended as a sort of nominal guarantee
to answer the immediate purpose of securing the Act,
and never intended to be exacted. The greater part of
the shares of these gentlemen are, doubtless, distributed
over a wide expanse in the hands of the men of straw.
But the question still remains, what is to be done with
them ? If the directors mean' to deal out impartial jus
Lice (or impartial injustice) alike to all, the question an-
swers itself, and these gentlemen must pay for their pa-
triotism. But, as the directors have a right to reject
whom they please, there is an escape fur patriots which
will readily suggest itself to the board. We presume
that none of these large subscribers will be impounded
for their subscriptions. But they grievously deceive
themselves if they imagine that they will get loose from
their responsibility in that way. They are in the per-
plexity of a man who, trying to escape from a fire,
rushes into a pond. The choice is between burning and
drowning.
The dilemma is this. They are either liable, or not
liable. If liable, they have incurred a responsibility
which few of them, we suspect, will be very willing to
discharge ; and if not liable, they have incurred a
greater responsibility from the inevitable failure of the
means to carry on the lint?' through the pauperism of
the parties to whom their shares have been transferred.
In either case, the weight will finally descend upon
them, either from their own direct responsibility, or
from the extinction of all other sources of capital. It is
clearly their own interest, therefore, as well as their duty
to the country, to bring the affairs of this company to
an immediate solution.
We cannot conceive a single argument in defence of
such a project at such a time. If there was the slightest
prospect of eventual success ; if there was the slightest
hope of being able to rase the requisite capital—the
Perseverance of the directors would command, as it
N:ould deserve our warmest applause. But there is no
ouch prospect—no such hope. To persist in such a de-
dlignmett_a juncture like this is to draw down wilfully fresh
orf
tait7.obrrave the evil genius of the country, in the
of the People. fortunes that already overwhelm the energies
course—as to dissolve true'
policy—the honest and upright
eev.eitilus hopeless company, and to re-
turn back to the olders all the money that can now
be snatched fromriPa careeror of aimless expenditure.
m
Delay will only absorbthe deposit, and leave a
scantier residue to be distributed.of It is possible the di-
rectors might open negotiations to lease or sell their
rights. Every effort of this kind should
shall havebe triedi before
the interests of the constituency
sacrificed. Such arrangements have been
England,frequentlyen finally
and
carried out with excellent results in
might be attended with still happier effects in Ireland.
But whatever course the directors may take, the al-
lotteei and wripholders Inge but one interest in common.