The Sun.
London, England, 1851-05-13 00:00:00

There is apparently no art which has been brough\
;o a higher degree of perfection than that of obstruct:
ing the public business of the country. Measures
will no longer be carried through Parliament because
they are in accordance with public opinion, and are
supported by overwhelming majorities in both Houses.
The y will pass by the favour of the minorities, be-
cause they have not excited any strong feelings in
the minds of some fifteen or twenty Members, suffi-
cient to induce those Honourable Gentlemen to enter
upon a course of factious opposition. The promise of
"dying on the floor of the House" will henceforward be
no mere brutum fulmen —no empty threat. Any person
really amibitious of martyrdom can accomplish his
wishes, provided he can find two or three tough vete-
rans, men who would be duly qualified to act as
" boot-eaters " at Irish state trials, to render their
assistance to carry out the laudable undertaking.
Indeed, we believe a single follower will suffice, one
who can ring the changes on the questions—" That
this House do now adjourn," and " that the debate
be now adjourned." It is necessary, according to
the standing orders, that there should be some
intermediate proceeding, before either question
can be again proposed. But the spirit of this salu-
tary rule is violated with impunity by adopting the
puerile evasion above indicated, and if a seconder
can be found who will act as teller on the division,
and vary his position on the next motion, of which
he will be the proposer, nothing can be done to stop
their course. Two persons can thus overule the
wishes of the remaining 654, and can arrest the pro-
gress of legislation at their mere will and pleasure. This
might be a valuable privilege if resorted to only on rare
occasions, when desirable to prevent surprise, or a
question of real importance being adjudicated on
without full and mature consideration. But the
matter has now reached a point at which something
must be done to abate the nuisance that has gradually
sprung up. It is those who have so fearfully abused
the power confided to their hands who will be re-
sponsible for any evils that may arise from the abro-
gation of the ancient rule.
After the time that bad already been devoted to the
consideration of the Ecclesiastical Titles Assumption
Bill, we might have hoped that no further factious oppo-
sition would have been offered to the progress of the
measure. It was even asserted that the Irish Brigade
had come to reason, and determined to change their
tactics in some degree. Every legitimate ground
would of course remain open. They might argue
and divide on the principle and on each of the details,
on every stage, where a division could be fairly called
for. In so doing, they would command the respect
and sympathy (if the House and country. But
twhhen they wilfully and deliberately transgress
than the most
limits within which they should restrict
themselves, they do more to injwre their cause .toMAN CATHOLIC HIERARCHY.—An address, to
powerful an 1 uncompromising which 255,766 signatures were attached, and which was pre-
opponents could accomplish.sent.ed to. her, Majesty . frpm.
.her Majesty's. ftoman, Catholic.
of disgust, that
They excite a feeling
may be productive of results ver subjects in England, disclaiming any intention ( f trenching
not 'only to their own individual into- oven the r yal prerogative in the recent appointment of a
hat been printed by order of the
prejudicial,
Roman Catholic hierarchy,
re-tt., but to the ea of . , Rouse of Commons.
liberality. use universal toleration and
ROYAL POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTION.—AMODgSt the
-we do not complain of the point raised recent deposits at this valuable establishment may be seen a
by the machine for making nets, the invention of Mr. William
Honourable Gentleman th® Member for Mao that Mullen, United States, which accomplishes that which not
the proposition should have been y ' long since was deemed an impossibility, viz., tying a knot in
considered and ' ht cords • and the knot formed by this
agreed to in a Committee of the whole House the centre of two straw,
~ .
before arrangement, strange to say, is the same precisely as that
the introduction of the Bill.
8 made by the fishermen in ~hich the needle is passed com-
A fair point
thereby raised, and if the Ministers had been can was made
through the mesh. Certainly these triumphs of mif-
ght chanical ingenuity lead us to what so frequently appears in
Th;pping, and that they had overlooked •
an obvious the present day, to believe that nothing is really impossible;
and necessary precaution, no one could have reason- for we find that which to-day seems absurd to attempt, to-
ably objected to those who took advantage of the thatmorrow is a mere commonplace matter. We understand
by this contrivance nets of all kinds may be producedat
pp
oversight. But it
a ears that
clearly anticipated and canvassed by the Government, sent procured.
WELSH LABOURERS larsu Navv.i-Es.--One day
and that the PREMIER had not only obtained the last week, a body of Irish U.
of the Crown, but also of fifty, were engaged b navvies, numbering about forty or
opinions of the law officers
kenhead to y Mr. Al‘Cormack, contractor, of Bir-
stions of Parliamentary ing
and ,forzoroceed. to Bangor, for the purpose of excavat-
the highest authority on all que
of Commons, Carnarvon. Ifhaeli of railway to connect that town with
practice—the SPEAKER of the House . .
making re a • Irishmen were duly landed, and were
liar jealousy ligene pre a rations to commence their work, but' the intel-
a gen tle man who would regard with pecusoon spread amon
others. The n • g the Welsh stone-quarriers and
any interference with the privileges of the body over
vaders. and tha wiess were looked upon as a species of which he h
-a had been selected to preside by the indepen-
ber of ,upwardseof 2eolob, men instantly assembled to the num-
de •
grounded the Irishmen, and with-
tit voices of iteM b When that opinion had been out a blow being struck, drove them •
em ers.
in a mass on board a
delivered steamboat. The navvies seem
I we should perhaps rather have said, thatjudg-
such overwhelmingg they had no chance against
merit numbera, quietly sub 'ft d
mi e , and were
pronouncedelbut "it was not a Bill of a nature landed in a few hours afterwards t •
that re •
quired to
be originated in a Committee of the men effected their a this port. The Welsh-
purpoF notwithstanding the remon-
whole tiouss," the strances • strances of the Bangor magistrates. The - .
e.xpulsion of the
objection should have been Irishmen had the effect of suspending for
withdrawn, and the- he railway—lirerpool Nem 4 time the =cave-
Parties by whom it was put ' von at14

and fro—there scarcely remains a possibility of any-
thing like a collision, .or of an accident of any less
terrible character. It consequently behoves the
directors of the varibus lines now in ope-
ration to look cautiously to each and all

of the particulars above enumerated, w that
is every instance the blame may attach rather
to their servants than to themselves. By this
method the public interebt would be effectually
conserved, and additional reasons would be afforded

for attention to their different duties among the
officials employed upon the three thousand miles and
upwards of railway now in active operation through-
out England. Rewards of a more attractive kind
than those hitherto extended to the servants of the

various companies should be held out for the faithfu

discharge of duties of a very arduous and responsible
description. Punishments in like manner of a more

serious and practicable species, such, for example, as
the degradation or discharge of the culpable, should
be raised in terrorein over the heads of those

entrusted with the lives and deaths of their
fellow-creatures, inciting them to the more

punctilious discharge of duties so peculiarly onerous
and important. By this method we feel satisfied that

_ ..
the whole intricate system of railway management
might ultimately be conducted with the precision and
regularity of clockwork.

THE VISITORS' Lim—Thanks to the enterprise of
one of our most indefatigable journalists, the editor not only
of the Critic, but of the Journal of the Exhibition, a fly-
sheet has just been issued from the press at a merely nominal
price, and of a singularly useful character. Its title is that
of our paragraph. In it are periodically published the names
and addresses of the various strangers visiting our metropolis.
Those foreigners who have not yet been announced in its
columns as among the recent arrivals in London, we would
recommend at once to transmit their names to the publisher
as a matter to them of very obvious convenience. Besides
this interesting catalogue of visitors, the paper comprises an
admirable guide to the sights and amusements of the day,
lucidly arranged, and containing every particular of any in-
terest whatsoever. The Visit°, s' List will be found alto-
gether to be one of the most excellent publications yet offered
to the foreigners arriving amongst us for the purpose of
witnessing the Exhibition.

REUNION DES ARTS.—Last night this Society
opened its :Second Soirée at the Private Rooms, 27, Queen
Anne-street, with a crowded and most select company.
We must give great eredit to the committee for the good
selection and arrangement of the music, which was most
admirably executed by some of our best vocal and instru-
mental artistes. Miss Rummel, Miss Magner, Madame
L ,maitre, Miss Lavinia, Miss ;.ay, Madame Goffin. Mr.
Day, Mr. Goodban, Herr Schmidt, Herr Rummel, Herr
Goffrie, Mr. Frederick Chatterton, &c. The lower apart-
ments were ornamented with some fine pictUres by English
and foreign alists, and where, during the interval of the
musical performance, the company retired to partake of some
coffee provided for them by the committee, spending a
most pleasant and social evening, which was prolonged to a
late hour.

conduct of the different underlings intermediately
situated between the principal termini, and with a
sedulous regard to the repairs of the road and the
efficiency of the engines employed in the traffic to