The Sun.
London, England, 1848-11-04 00:00:00

THE SUN,

position of affairs at the capital of Austria is, that
the city was bombarded by the forces of WINDISCII-
- and JELLACHICH—that several of the suburbs,
such as Landstrasse and - Leopoldstadt, had been
taken—that rockets and bombs were being rained I
upon the Aula—that many portions of the city were
in flames, clouding the day with smoke and
flushing the night with a lurid red ; but that,
in defiance of all these tremendous efforts on
the part of the assailants, the citizens were still de-
fending Vienna with a resolute devotion only com-
parable to that displayed by the Spaniards at Sarra-
gossa. Since these authentic details have been re-
ceived, a vague and uncorroborated rumour has
arrived, to the effect that Vienna has 'fallen before
the assaults of WINDISCEIGRATZ. And thereupon, as
we have already observed, our Tory contemporaries
raise a shout of rapturous exultation.
Taking for granted the accuracy of this rumour—
though we wholly and decidedly discredit the peculiar
circumstances of the surrender as above enumerated—
we draw deductions from the occurrence diametrically
opposed to those indulged in by the admirers of the policy
of Prince METTERNICH. If Vienna has been captured
by Prince WINDISCHGRATZ and his Croatian ally, the
Ban JELLACHICH—it has only been taken when re-
duced to a gigantic and smouldering ruin. The
bloodshed has been terrible—it cries to heaven for
vengeance—its awful prayer will not pass unan-
swered. Henceforth and for ever the very name of
FERDINAND will smell of the blood of the Austrian
people as unendurably and as inevitably as ever did
those of the Terrorist Murderers of the first
French Revolution, the foul MARAT, the ob-
scene CHAUMETTE, the inexorable ST. JUST,
the bland and villanous CoUTHoN, the stern and
cadaverous ROBESPIERRE. The wholesale atrocities
perpetrated upon the unfortunate Viennese have alto-
gether obliterated the remembrance of an isolated as-
sassination like that of Count Lkroua—a man who
richly deserved the punishment he received, though it
were better had that punishment been administered
more judicially, and with a less horrific prolongation
of agony. By those who have faith in the splendid
phantasm of the " right divine," and who regard every
act of the idiot crowned with the imperial diadem of
Hapsburgh as entitled to applause and glorification,
the capture of Vienna at the point of the bayonet and
at the muzzle of the howitzer will appear as the in-
auguration of a long reign of uninterrupted tyranny
and unquestioned absolutism. Nay, it has already
been said by some amongst them, that the fall of the
Austrian capital before the guns of WINDISCHGRATZ
will lead to the revival of the ancient policy of the
empire, and possibly to the recall of the gang of re-
trograde politicians who have danced attendance upon
METTERNICH even into his place of banishment.
The experiment of liberal institutions, and of a
free Government has been tried, say they, and
now that it has proved such a deplorable failure,
the old administration of despotism will be revived.
The experiment, quotha! As if the Constitution
extorted from the reluctant Sovereign at Schoobrunn
by the grand voize of a whole nation had been some
spontaneous experiment on the part of the fatuous
FERDINAND, instead of the giant necessity of an age
ripened into freedom by the lore of philosophy
Nay ! The fall of Vienna, if it be really fallen, or if
it be destined to fall before the armies of JELLACHICII
and WINDISCHGRATZ, will, on the contrary, be the
pronunciation of the doom of the EMPEROR. Before
the monstrous and unparalleled crime of a Sovereign
battering down the walls of his capital and butcher..
ing the inhabitants of the first city of the empire, the
people may for a moment fall back aghast and pause
from emotions of horror ; but as certainly as that
this crime has been reserved for FERDINAND and
1848, the people will rise and exterminate their dia-
bolical conquerors. Under such circumstances even
those who are the most devoted adherents of a free
monarchical Government have reason to yearn for
the inauguration of a Republic and the establishment
of democratic institutions.

The contemplated amalgamation between three of
the great railway companies having metropolitan
termini—the North Western, the Great Western,
and the South-Western—the preliminary arrange-
ments for which we announced yesterday, may be
regarded as an event of the deepest importance not
only to the shareholders in the several companies,
but to the community in general. The former will,
of course, desire that a fair and remunerating divi-
dend should be paid on the amount of capital ex-
pended on the construction of the line—that the
traffic should be developed to the utmost ex-
tent —and that the largest possible returns
should be obtained and divided in due course among
the several parties entitled thereto. These are the
only points in which the proprietors, as such, can feel
any interest. They have entered upon a commercial
speculation, and it is their private profits, and not the
convenience of the public, that must be regarded.
But as members of the great body politic, they, in
common with the rest of the community, must con-
sider the matter in another and a very different
point of view. A safe, comfortable, expeditious, and
economical mode of transit has become one of the
necessities of the age. The establishment of
railways the construction of the iron net-
work by which our island is intersected—has
created an extraordinary moral revolution throughout
the land. Journeys are now undertaken at a mo-
ment's notice at which our fathers would have shud-
dered, and which they would not have attempted
unless compelled by paramount necessity. Many
persons, relying on the facilities thus placed within
their reach, reside with their families in pure country
air, at considerable distances from their places of
business, and travel distances every day, that under
the ancien regime would have consumed their entire
time, and required enormous outlay. It is scarcely
necessary to enumerate the advantages resulting from
such arrangements. The blooming countenances
of children in the enjoyment of robust health
and buoyant spirits, in place of languishing
in the close and tainted atmosphere of an unhealthy
town, will appeal more forcibly to a parent's heart,
and speak with more thrilling eloquence, than any
language to which we could give utterance.
But it is not merely in these respects, important as
they most undoubtedly are, that the chief advantages of
the railway system consists. It is not in the rapid tran-
sit of passengers, the greater cheapness of fares, or the
greater safety in travelling alone, that the beneficial
results of these vast monuments of British enterprise
and British capital are perceptible. Our trade
and commerce is materially promoted—principals
are enabled to make their own arrange-
ments in place of leaving them in the hands
of agents, in whom they might not be enabled to
place implicit confilence ; business can, therefore, be
greatly extended, and that with little additional ex-
penditure, trouble, or fatigue. Orders, too, will be
given to suit the exigencies of the market, in conse-
quence of the rapidity with which they can be re-
ceived. Everything relating to trade and manufac-
ture is thus materially aided and promoted by the
much calumniated railways, which have been so in-
cessantly attacked by certain classes of political
economists, who ascribe all the evils under which the
country Las suffered to their construction.
Agriculture is, if possible, still more benefited than
trade or commerce. The produce of the land can be con-
veyed to market and readily disposed of at one-fourth
of the cost that was formerly required for that pur-
pose. Manures and earth for agricultural purposes,
that were previously inaccessible, can nuw easily be
got, and thus increased produce can be ob-
tained from the land, an additional supply of food
for the nation, while the farmer receives the
rewards of his industry in the enhanced
tamed from the higher cultivation
and pardofitditsioobna-1
fertility of the soil. A high authority
cultural affairs, Mr. SMITH, of De son
agri-
cultural
that " on a farm of two hundrtdn'achrases
on a six course shift, with fifteen miles of transport,
there would be a yearly saving of ten shillings
acre in carriage alone." If this he true, and clinely'
practical farmer can easily make the calculation,
how vast is the aggregate amount thus saved
throughout the entire kingdom. is, as an
ancient philosopher informs us, " he is the
greatest benefactor of mankind who makes
two blades of grass spring up where only one for-
merly grew," how deep a debt of gratitude is due
and owirg to men from whose energy and enter-
prise the nation has derived such incalculable
advantages ?—advantages which may briefly be
stated in the words adopted by the Select Committee
on the state of the poor in Ireland, who, speaking of

canals in 1830—and every statement i 3 even more
applicable to railways than to canals—sly :
" The effect of opening lines of inland navigation,
when formed upon proper scientific principles and
executed with due economy, has been, on the con-
currence of all testimony, the extension of improved
agriculture, the equalization of prices of fuel and
provisions in different districts, the diminishing the
danger of scarcity in both these necessaries of life;
and advancing the general improvement of the con-
dition of the people by the creation of a new, vigorous,
and continued demand for labour."

Even the fisheries participate in the general ad-
vantage. Many thousand tons of fish are annually
borne into the interior of the country, and thus new
markets are opened to the fishermen, and a cheap,
wholesome, and agreeable article of diet placed
within the reach of thousands, who were heretofore
wholly debarred therefrom.
We have thus shortly proved that the community
at large are even more deeply interested in the pros-
perity and extension of the railway system than
even the shareholders themselves. We shall on an
early occasion enter into the consideration how far
those interests may be affected by the proposed
amalgamation.

THE FRENCH REPUBLIC.

We have received the Paris papers of yesterday.

During the debate on the right of labour, M. LEON
FAUCHER interrupted M. FELIX PYAT in the course
of his speech, exclaiming, " A man who could utter
such sentiments would fight at the barricades ;" upon
which M. LEDRU ROLLIN retorted, " There are some
men who would not fight at the barricades either on
the one side or the other." The sarcasm was barb( d
with truth, and it told. Great was the hubbub among
the Thierses, the Leon Fauchers, et hoc genus onine,
the cellarmen of revolutions. A scene of violent re
crimination followed, and the friends of the respective
parties are to meet to arrange ulterior proceedings.
If we may judge from the agonies of La Presse, the
cause of reaction is not in the most prosperous state.
M. Emma DE GIRARDIN has, in order to raise sym-
pathy fur himself and his cause, declared that it is
the intention of the Government to arrest him ille
gaily, an assertion utterly and entirely without
foundation, and thereupon he magniloquently dares
the Government to act illegally, and threatens them
that if they do " France will close her doors against
the tax-collectors," and concludes with " the depart-
ments are now warned." Had M. Emma DE GIRAR-
DIN ventured, under that regime which he is so
anxious to restore, to recommend non payment of
taxes under any circumstances, he would within a
very short period have found himself an inhabitant of
Mont St. Michel.

M. CAZAVAN, the Prefect of Toulouse, who at
tended the Socialist banquet there, has bee❑ dis
missed.

In the sitting of yesterday the National Assembly
proceeded with the adjourned debate on the revision
of the Constitution. The debate is expected to finish
this evening.
The Moniteur announces that on Sunday next
General CAvAIGNac will review all the troops at pre-
sent at Pari=, in the Chatrp de Mars.

The Madrid mail of the 29th ult. did not arrive
in Paris yesterday.
M. Raspail has addressed the following letter, dated
Donjon de Vincennes, the Ist, to the Opinion Pub-
lique :
" Citizen Editor,—You announce that I have given
up my candidateship to the Presidency in favour of
the citizen Ledru Rollin. You have been led into
error; such an idea never entered my mind, for to
me it has no sense. In fact, we may give up a right,
but not a choice. Now, what right have we by our-
selves to the Presidency, and why put ourselves for-
ward, or rather seek thus to impose ourselvis on the free
election of the people, sole master of the dignity and sole
giver of the office ? For my part, I have always believed
that I conformed to democratic principles, in putting
myself forward in no respect, but also in giving up
nothing in favour of any one. I accept without
shrinking the place which the interest of the people
assigns me, the prison like the candidateship; but I
never endeavour to prejudge the choice of my coun-
try, having only in view the happiness of serving it."
M. Prudhon has just brought out his journal, under
the title Le Peuple, but the amount of caution-money
deposited only enables him to publish it weekly. It
is, however, intimated that hereafter it will be pub-
lished daily.
BOURSE, PARIS, FRIDAY, NOV. 3.

THREE o'cLock.—The decline continued to-day, and
all di.): the offers were very numerous. The deplorable
state of the Government account with the Bank of France
had a sinister effect on that establishment, which fell
30 francs. On the whole, this has been the worst
Bourse that we have seen for mouths past. Fur
the Account, the French Three per Cents. have declined
40c.; the Five per Cents. 30c.; and the Loan 45c. For
Money, the Three per Cents. have declined 35c.; the
Five per Cents. 40c.; and the Loan 35c.; Bons du Ti -
sor are not quoted: Bank of France Shares have linen
3011; Belgian Bank Shares remain the same; ditto Five
per Cents. have advanced I per cent.; Spanish Funds
not quoted: Roman has risen 4 per cent.; Rothschild's
Receipts not quoted. Exchange on London (30 days).
25 45; ditto (90 days), 25 27k. Railway Shares have
also fallen. The Orleans have fallen 15F., the Rotions 3f.
75c., and the Bordeaux, if. 25c. The Bales, Northerns.
and Strasburgs remain as yesterday. The Marseilles
have risen if. 25c.
BUSINESS DONE IN FOREIGN RAILWAYS AT THE