The Sun.
London, England, 1848-10-20 00:00:00

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LONDON, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 20, 1343.

An explanatory letter has been elicited from the
Secretary of the Scottish Central Railway by the in-
dignant commentaries of the Press upon his behaviour
towards her Grace the Duchess of SITHERLAND.
We call it by courtesy, and through lack of a better
title, " an explanatory letter," although we are
tempted to exclaim as Lord BYRON exclaimed when
SOUTRRT was " explaining metaphysics to thR nation"
we wish he would explain his explanation." For
of all the lame and bungling epistles it has ever been
our misfortune to peruse that written on Wednesday
last from the Perth station by Mr. ROBERT D. KEE,
is decidedly the very lamest and the most bungling.
It is evidently penned with the intention of
mystifying the, public into the belief that
there has been from beginning to end a gross
misstatement, and that the directors of the Scottish
Central Railway in general, and Mr. ROBERT D.
Bra in particular, are wholly innocent and grievously
mdligned. That, we say, is manifestly the intention
of the epistle ; and yet the result of the communica-
tion is simply and entirely this, that Mr. ROBERT D.
liEn, the calumniated Secretary of the Scottish
Cential Railway, himself acknowledges and chronicles
the fact that her Grace did send to inquire if she could
be cartied forward by the mail train on Sunday
morning, and that he, the calumniated Secretary,
Mr. ROBERT D. Kla, did reply that a compliance
with the request was altogether impossible !
As for the precise hour by the Perth
clock at which this entreaty was conveyed,
to the Secretary it matters not one jot. There the
fact is, as naked as the Druid blocks on Stonehenge
—the demand was made to the Secretary, and the
Secretary peremikorily refused to comply with the
demand. What 'more have we journalists main-
tained ? Mr. ROBERT D. KV* will perhaps oblige us
with an answer.
Be__observe the modesty of this delicate effort at
extenuation !—But, says the Secretary—" I am sure
every one connected with the railway would have
been ready to facilitate her Grace's Journey by every
possible means had the eirninstances attending it
been wads brown to them !" So that her

Grace was to violate the sanctity of her
sorrows upon the platform of the Perth station to the
first luggage porter, she was to swallow the grief of
her filial emotions and to explain the precise reasons
and extreme urgency of her journey from Dunrobin
Castle, in consequence of having received intelligence
of the mortal illness of her father, the late Earl of
CARLISLE, and then—after this severe domestic
calamity had been profaned by being idly lipped from
mouth to mouth over the whole establishment until it
had reached the ears of the invisible secretary—then
her Grace's journey would, Mr. ROBERT D. KER is
0 sure," have been facilitated by every possible means
by the different persons connected with the railway.
In short, according to this official announcement,
it is incumbent upon every one desirous of travelling
per rail on Sundays to bring medical ~certificates,
showing that those who are dear to them are in peril
of their lives, to reveal the secrets of their banker's
account or of their mercantile books, for the purpose
of proving that their presence in such and such a
place by such and such an hour is essential for their
preservation from insolvency ; in fact that the woes
of family, of property, of position, of interest, or of
affection, should be laid bare before the careless eye
of a perfect stranger, and that stranger a check-
taker en a Scottish railway, or a secretary, like Mr.
ROBERT D. KBE, whose humanity has been utterly
obliterated by his fanaticism, or whose feelings of deli-
cacy have been rendered entirely subservient to the
will and pleasure of half-a•dozen bigotted and pig-
headed directors. The more we reflected upon the
brutality of conduct resulting from this wretched
cant about the sanctification of the Sabbath, the
more intolerably does the culpability of the Secretary
of the Scottish Central Railway glare upon our judg-
ment, and the more profound is our indignation
against the directors who have found in him a
willing tool of their coarse-minded and arrogant
hypocrisy.

We do not doubt for one instant but that the dis-
tinguished nobleman who presides over the depart-
ment of Woods and Forests will employ his ministerial
power to prevent the recurrence of such miseries as
those which were gratuitously added to the poignant
affliction of his sister, the Duchess of SumaßßL.uip.
The humanity of his nature will egg him forward
along a path of retribution to the psalm-singing po-
tentates pf the Scottish railways—a path which to
others would be pointed out by a feeling of justifiable
wrath and excusable, vindictiveness. We look to Lord
MortrEnt, now the Earl of CARLISLE, for this act of
severe and exquisitely deserved repression, and we
cannot but think that it would be an act happily
inaugurative of his elevation to the House of
Peers. What happened to her Grace the Mistress
of the Robes, on Sunday the Bth of October, has
happened doubtless a hundred times before to persons
in a less conspicuous position. The eminent rank of
the Duchess of SUTHERLAND has alone brought the
incident prominently before the public knowledge.
Had she been a lady of private fortunes she might
have shed tears in -abundance without being noticed.
As it was, the grievance attracted in her instance an
universal attention, and brought to mind a misery of
perpetual recurrence, which might otherwise have con-
tinued to be overlooked. Now, that the misfortune
of the Duchess of SUTHERLAND has vividly revealed
the existence and the severity of this grievance, it is
incumbent upon the Legislature to interpose between
those whose souls are steeped in the bitterness of
sorrow, or whose hearts are agonized by the spasms
of anxiety, and the callous and brutalising morality of
sanctimonious directors and obsequious secretaries.
Let the Mistress of the Robes at least have the con-
solation of reflecting that her individual sufferings
have tended to the sensible diminution of those of the
multitude. The people look for this proceeding on
the part of the Government, and—what is more—the
people shall not be disappointed.

The extraordinary depreciation in the value of
railway property still continues. The machinations
of those who, for their own rile purposes, have pro-
pagated the most unfounded and slanderous reports,
have for the time being, been attended with too much
success. A railway panic has been excited that has
led to the sacrifice of shares in the best companies at
little more than one-half of their real value. We are
told of the superabundance of money in the City, of
capital in the bankers' hands for whieh no beneficial
employment can be found, of the rates of interest for
short periods being but 1 or 2 per cent., and
yet from seven to eight per cent. can readily be
obtained for investments in the great trunk lines, and
that at the lowest 'bite of dividend that has been
struck for many years, and which there is a moral
certainty will be fully maintained, if not materially
increased, with the restoration of commercial activity,
which may now reasonably be expected. There can
be no just or adequate cause for this extraordinary
fact. The nation has undoubtedly passed through a
severe and trying ordeal ; but the storm has been
weathered, the difficulties have been success-
fully encountered. There are no threaten-
ing aspects in the political horison. The
stability of our institutions has been established
beyond the, possibility of doubt. The friends of
peace and order have attained a glorious moral vic-
tory, and the insignificance of those who, bewildered
by the events that have occurred and are of daily
occurrence on the continent of Europe, would fain
involve their native land in similar confusion, has
been demonstrated in the most conclusive manner.
Everything betokens a continuance of tranquillity
and the consequent improvement in every description
of property. Why, then, should railways prove
the sole exception to the general rule ? Why
should they alone continue sinking lower and
lower, while everything around betokens the
approach of a more propitious .season ? Many
causes may have, in some degree, conduced to-
wards this untoward result, but there is one gigantic
grievance that has been carried to the most fearful
extent, and which may fairly be regarded as the main
cause, the fir: et origo, of the present depression,
that which has been termed the "Bearing System"--
i. the speculative sale of shares which the vendors
have not in their possession at the time of the cul-
-1 tract, but which are to be delivered on a future day,
and which they calculate upon being enabled to pur-
chase at a lower price in the interval, or, more pro-
bably, never have an actual transfer, the difference
being paid or received, as the case may be, upon the
i settling day.

It may easily be conceived how keen an inte-
rest is thus excited in the minds of those who
have speculated largely for a fall. They have
entered upon a system of gambling upon a most
gigantic scale, and we fear that the most unfair
practices are too often resorted to in order to win
the game upon which they hare cast so large a
stake. We do not by any means assert that all who
speculate upon the rise or fall of shares are actuated
by dishonest motives, or that they would invent or
circulate unfounded reports for the purpose of gaining
an unfair advantage ; but there are, unfortu-
nately, many who are in the daily habit
of doing so without scruple or remorse. Hence the
sinister rumours, the specious fabrications, that are
bandied about ; hence the terror excited in the minds
of bond fide holders of stock, who are induced :to
sacrifice their property from the dread of some im-
rpending calamity. Capitalists are deterred from
becoming purchasers by the same causes, and thus
the object is attained : the markets are depreciated
lower and lower, and thousands are involved in ruin,
that the gamblers may carry on their operations
without impediment or annoyance.
To those who have selected established
railways as a permanent investment, to whom the
temporary rise or fall in the value of the shares can
be no object, so long as the dividend remains un-
altered, these proceedings can be of little conse-
quence, provided they have strength of mind suffi-
cient to resist the panic created and excited by these
insidious proceedings. But, unfortunately, too many
of the bona
.fide holders, by their own weakness, play
into the hands of those interested parties. The mo-
ment a whisper prejudicial to the company in which
they hold stock is circulated, the moment any mate-
rial fall takes place in the value of shares, they
cast their shares upon the market to be sold for
whatever they may bring, without pausing to in-
quire into the validity or accuracy of the statements
that have been made, to receive the explanations that
can be offered, or to weigh the probablefconsequences
oa
Thust
ss such
ptrhoelyo portions
nfgallande thereof
y increase
a
victims,
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and
d b
senseless
be t wellheif r
p indiscreeta on un i
c d ebdy.
which they have themselves been severe sufferers.

Can no remedy be found for this deplorable
state of affairs ? Is it not practicable to restore
confidence in legitimate undertakings, to bring about
a sounder system ? We believe that it is, and that
it only requires prompt and decisive action on the
part of the railway interests to do so. Let the
shareholders demand from the Legislature protection
for their property from the machinations of those
who have no interest therein; let all speculative sales
be prohibited under heavy penalties, and contracts
rendered illegal whenever the vendors at the time of
the bargain are not possessed of the stock they agree
to deliver on a particular day. By these
,means, and
these only, will railway property be restored to its legi-
timate value—when none but bona fide transactions
take place, and none can appear as sellers but those who
are in actual possession of property which they de-
sire to dispose of, then, and not until then, will the
market be placed on a sound footing.
A significant fact was mentioned in the money
article of our impression of Wednesday that should
not be lost sight of. It appears that but few trans-
fers have actually taken place, and by no means pro-
portionate to the quantity of business nominally
transacted. Does not this incontestably prove that
the temporary depression is alone occasioned by the
operations of the "Bears ?"

THE FRENCH REPUBLIC.

We have received the Paris papers of yesterday.

The state of siege of Paris was yesterday raised,
on the recommendation of the Committee, by the
unanimous vote of the Assembly.
In the sitting of the National Assembly of Wed-
nesday, a Bill was introduced by the Government to
repeal a decree issued by the Provisional government
with respect to trial by jury. By the law of France,
previous to February, no man could be convicted
unless found guilty by a majority of at least eight
out of the twelve jurymen appointed to try the case.
The Provisional Government raised the majority to
nine out of twelve. The consequence has been that
in many parts of France it is difficult to get a convic-
tion, and the judges complain that in many instances
of clear guilt the parties have escaped because it was
impossible to get a majority 'of three-fourths of the
whole jury. M. CRBMIEUX admitted that the ad-
ministration of justice had been impeded; he there-
fore supported the return to the old law, and the Bill
was passed by a large majority.
The debate on the Constitution was then resumed,
and the discussion of the seventh chapter was com-
menced. This chapter regulates the internal admi-
nistration, and gave rise to an animated discussion on
the principle of centralization. M. BECHARD com-
menced the discussion, and declared that, although
he was in favour of political centralization, which
had conferred immense benefits on France, he was
opposed to administrative centralization. The cen-
tralization system had been introduced under the
Empire, and was at complete variance with the prin-
ciples laid down by the first Republic. He contended
that the right of citizens to administer their local
affairs, and by officers of their own choosing, was
natural and imprescriptible. Administrative cen-
tralization was inimical to the interests of labour,
ruinous to the finances, dangerous to the liberties
of the country, and destructive even of political
unity. The system was not only an expensive one,
but it was one which put it in the power of the
capital at any time to revolutionize France. He
concluded by declaring that France was weary of a
system which brought about a revolution every fifteen
years, and put it in the power of 50,000 Communists
in the capital to bend the will of 35,000,000 of
Frenchmen. Paris was not France, and he there-
fore would contend to the last, in favour of political,
but against administrative, centralization.

M. CHARLES Durm declared that administrative
centralization was requisite for the success of that
political centralization which AI. BECHARD admitted
to be necessary. He denied that centralization para-
lysed public works, charities, and the instruction
of the people. Great public works could not be un-
dertaken by small committees, and, therefore, cen-
tralization became necessary; and when the ques-
tion was examined by the Council of State, at which
BENJAMIN ComsTANT was present, it was admitted
that it contributed to the grandeur of the country,
and that it was necessary to retain it. He concluded
by expressing a hope that the Revolution of 1848
would not desert that unity and indivisibility which
was the principle in force since 1789, and which was
the only thing wanting in other countries to rise to
the height attained by France.
After M. Det►iN's speech the debate was adjourned.

At the commencement of yesterday's sitting, M.
AXACAND MARRAST was re-elected PreFident for the
ensuing month, by the large majority of 485. Th•
other candidates were M. SEMARD and M. BAC.

M. BOUVET then put some questions on the subject
of foreign affairs, which M. BASTIDB declined an-
swering ; whereupon M. BEAUNE gave notice, for
Monday, of a series of interpellations to be addressed
to the Government on the subject of the foreign re-
lations of France.

The debate on the Constitution was then resumed,
and was proceeding at the hour the post left.
A deputation from the department of the Lot, yes-
terday, presented to General CAUAIIIINIC a sword,
which was Toted to him by the inhabitants for his
energy and courage in putting down the insurrection
of June. The deputation consisted of MM. ROLLAND,
LABRONSSII, ST. PRIEST, and CARLA, representatives
of the department; and of MM. Amavar and LUCIEN
MURAT. General CATAIGNAC, in his reply, dwelt on
the necessity of conciliation.