The Sun.
London, England, 1846-04-15 00:00:00

Collingwood, and W. French, common brewers, Bed-
lington, Northumberland.

SCOTCH. SEQUESTRATIONS.
Coghill and Company, gla.s tre'rchants,_Ayr, April
20, and May 11, at twelve, at the Crown Inn, Ayr.
James Jamieson, draper, Pai,ley, April 18, and May
9, at two, at the Saracen's Head Inn, Paisley.
John Oswald, sharebrolier, 11-linburgh, April 17, and
May 11, at one, at the chambers of Messrs. Duudas and
Jamieson, Edinburgh,
Peter Dawson. draper, :Dundee, April 21 and May 9,
at twelve, at the Royal Hotel, Dundee.

OPENING OF THE RAMSGATE
BRANCH OF THE SOUTH-EASTERN RAIL •
WAY.
The Ramsgate branch of the South-Eastern Railway
was opened on Monday. The direetors, including the
chairman, Mr. Macgregor, Lord Torrington, Mr. liar-
ding, Mr. Randa'l, left 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 tram, 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 tnat 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 dirt ctors of the Company to have a
free trip to Canterbury, also rea&a.d 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 be added to the list.
The direct irs of the Company certainly had no reason
to complain of the mode in which they were received at
Ramsgate. The streets through which it was known
they would pass in their way to the Albion, at which
the dinner was to take place, was litersily one mass of
royal standards, union jacks, and every possible descrip-
tion of flag. That these marks of joyfulness were not
empty ones, may perhaps be best gathered from the fact
that nearly every shop in the town was closed. In truth,
the people of liam*gate 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 inhabis
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 cha man (Mr. Sackette), in a short but
pithy address, pointed out the advantage which railway
communication with the metropolis must 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-Ea-tern Company had proved themselves to be, to
afford every facility in their power to render the journey
from London to Ostend, viii Ram-gate, both speedy and
convenient. They had placed two splendid steam. boats
on the station, second to none both fiir speed and accom-
modation, and hail mani'ested their earnest desire to
afford every facility to render available the natural ad-
vantages of Ramsgate far 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-Esstern
directors as his guests at Marfcate; 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
Ramsgste, and in placing fast and commodious steam
boats upon the station, to run between that port and
Ostend. Indeed, there seemed to be a hearty and
general feeling to promote in every possible way the
liberal policy of the South-Eastern Company.
Mr. Macgregor, the chairman of the company, in
speaking to the toast of the evening—viz., "Prosperity
to the South-Eastern Railway Company," which was
enthusiastically responded to—expressed his deep sense
of the very kind and hospitable manner in which the
authorities and inhabitants of Ramsgate had received the
directors of the company. He observed that the proper
policy of a railway company was to identify its interests
with those of the public. This the South Eastern di-
rectors had endeavoured to do ; and he assured the au-
thorities and inhabitants of Ramsgate that the South-
Eastern Company would do all it possibly could to make
available, both for the benefit of the town as well as fur
that of' the public, the advantages which the magnificent
harbour of Ramsgate presented to those proceeding from
London to the north of Europe. In truth, it was the
desire of the company to render the passage between
London and Ostend as regular as the journey by the
mail coach.
Viscount Torrington also addressed the company in an
excellent speech, and pointed out the advantages which
the South-Eastern Company's projects for accommodat-
ing Kent with railway communication have over those
promoted by what are termed the " independent" North
Kent schemes. In fact, he said, he had heard it very
pithily remarked that the latter (Vigiteles') line might
be likened to the clothes bought at a slop-shop, while
those promoted by the South-Eastern Company—viz.,
by Mr. Robert Stephenson, were, as every one could see,
clothes that had been cleverly measured for, and fitted
admirably.
During the evening the healths of Mr. Cubitt, jun.,
and Mr. Ford, the resident engineer of the branch line,
were proposed and drank with all the honours.
The dinner was substantial and well served, and the
evening passed off in a.manner as creditable to the good
sense and hospitality of the authorities and people of
Ramsgate as it must have been gratifying to the directors
of the company.
The special train left Ramsgate at ten o'clock last
night, and arrived at the Bricklayers' Arms a little
before two o'clock, having been detained a considerable
time by the usual goods trains.
We cannot close this brief notice of the celebration of
the opening of this branch line without tendering our
thanks to the Chairman, Mr. James Macgregor, the
Chairman of the Company, for the courtesy we, in
common with the rest of the press, received at his hands.
We have also to thank Mr. Ilberry, the superintendent
of the line, for the kind assistance he has always been
and is ever ready to afford to the members of the press
when travelling by special train.

ENGLAND'S LOVE OF PEACE AND
READINESS FOR WAR.
(From the Examiner.)
There is not a country in the world so desirous of
peace as England, and that there is none better prepared
tor war the brilliant campaign on the Sutlej most
strikingly shows. It is clear that our arms have not
rusted in peace, and that the service was never in a
higher state of efficiency. And this observation does
not apply merely to the forces in a part of our immense
empire. Wherever our soldiers and sailors have been I
put to the trial, the same prowess has been manifested
with the same glorious and rapid success. In China, in
Syria, in Sinde, awl in the retrievement of the Affghan
disasters, they have proved themselves irresistible, and
it has been one career of triumph. There have been no
protracted wars, no barren campaign; England has
only had to stretch out her arm to strike, and the foe has
been crushed.
We have seen gigantic Russia opposed for two years
by feeble Turkey, we have seen her defied and repulsed
by the petty robber chief of Khiva, and bending her
power for years against the Circassians, who have held
her at arm's length, often defeating her, and in her small
successes leaving her little to boast.
France in Algeria presents another example. Whole
armies have been absorbed there. A deluge of blood
has been wasted, like water spilt in the desert. It is
the vain labour of the ')anaides, with this difference,
that the sieves are to be filled with blood. The work is
for ever to begin again; victory and disaster taking
their turns without end; Abd-el-Kader crushed fur ever
one day, and making head again the next.
Yet in AL.leria France has a terrible military school.
It has been described as the soldier-mill, into whiA
three men are put and g ound into one doughty warrior.
It might be supposed that there was nothing that such
an army could nut effect, but yet they effect nothing—
nothing decisive. True, they have an elusive enemy to
deal with, and when they beat the Arabs it is like
threshing water. We do not deny the pecu-
liar difficulties, though we have a notion that
if England had chosen to encounter them, she
could have found better methods of coping
with them ; but let the cau-es of the failure
of the French be what they may. there stands the
example of her long losses and miscarriages in compari-
son with England's instant successes. wherever therngland
power
of r arms has been put forth. Let it be that England
,lakes better choice of her of j_ eta ; th,t she does not
involve herself in schemes of conquest beyond her
strength ; such explanation is praise enough which as-