The Sun.
London, England, 1851-05-17 00:00:00

DIORTMAIN.

Motion made, and Question put, " That the Select Com-
mittee on Mortmain do consist of Eighteen Diembers." The
House divided :

MINORITY—AYES, 36.
Arundel, Earl of Keogh, William Power, Dr.
Barron, Sir H. Lacy, H. C. Power, Nicholas
Blake, M. J. Lawless, Cecil Reynolds, John
Burke, Sir Thomas Magan, W. H. Scholefield, William
Cobden, R. Meagher, Thomas Scully, Francis
Corbally, M. E. Mahon, O'Gorman Sidney, Alderman
Devereux, J. T. Moore, George H. Somers, J. P.
Fagan, James Morgan, 11. K. G. Sullivan Michael
Goold, Wnydham Nugent, Sir Percy Walmsley, Sir J.
Grace, 0. D. O'Brien, J. Williams, John
Grattan, Henry O'Brien, Sir T.
Greene, John O'Connor, Feargus TZLLXIIB.
Higgins, G. G. O'Flaherty, Anthony O'Connell, John
Hamilton, G.tA. rilkington, James Sadleir, John

MAJORITY-NOES, 94.
Adderley, C. B. Granby,lMarquis of Newdegate, C. N.
Baring, Sir F. Granger, T. C. Newport, Visct.
Bass, M. T. Greene, Thomas Ogle, S. C.
Bell, Jacob Grey, Sir George Palmerston, Viscount
Bennet, Philip Grey, R. W. Parker, John
Bentinck, Lord H. Guest, Sir John Peel, Frederick
Brernridge, Richard Belford, Sir H. Pigott, Francis
Brisco, M. Harris; Richard Plowden, W. 11.
Brotherton, Joseph nestle, Alexander Price, Sir Robert
Brown, W. Batchell, John Ricardo, Osman
Sunbury, W. Hawes, B. Russell, Lord J.
Cayley, Edward S. Heneage, G. H. Russell, F. C. H.
Chohneley, Sir M. Henley, J. W. Seymour, Lord
Clements, Charles Heywortb, L. Sheridan, R. B.
Cockburn, Sir A. Bildyard, R. C. Smith, M. T.
Couolly, Thomas Bindley, Charles Smollett, A.
Craig, Sir W. G. Hodgson, W. N. Spooner, ltichard
Disraeli, B. Itotham, Lord •Stafford, Augustus
D run, mond, Borne Howard, C. W. G. Thicknesse, Ralph
Duckworth, Sir J. hloward,tE. G. Thompson, Colonel
Duncan, George Hume, Joseph Thornely, Thomas
Duncuft, John Hutt, William Townshend, Captain
Dundas, Sir David Laboucherellenry Tyler, Sir G.
Ebrington, Viscount Langton, W. 11. P. Verner, Sir W.
Egerton, W. T. Lemon, Sir C. Verney, Sir H.
Ellis, John Littleton, E. B. Walpole, Spencer
Followes, E. Lockhart, W. Willyams, 11.
Fitzpatrick, J. W. Lydon, General Wilson, James
Floyer, John Mackie, John Wood, Sir Charles
Fordyce, A. D. Maule, Fox
Forster, Matthew Milner, W. M. TELLERS.
Frewen, C. H. Mostyn, E. M. Hill, Lord Marcus
Glyn, G. C. Mulg;ave, Earl Hayter, W. G.

GREAT. EXHIBI N.
(From the Times.)
The public has heard, with no little pleasure, of the
vast and increasing assemblage that daily repairs to the
Great Exhibition. The laborious and well-directed
of its,promoters have 119.0ieen thrown away, or
their calculations baffled. Our own countrymen, and all
the nations of the earth, have responded to the call.
There has been realised one of the grandest conceptions
that ever entered the mind of man, and in Hyde-park
there is now a Congress of nations gathered to exhibit
and to behold the manifold fruits of human industry.
There is scarcely wanting a circumstance that could add
to the pleasure and the pride of the scene. As to the
numbers, it is estimated by the infallible test of the
money received at the doors, that every day there aro
no less than 30,000 persons at one hour or another in the
building. Near 10,000 have daily paid their five shil-
lings, and the holders of season tickets are evidently in-
tent on working out the value of their investment. Such
is the number of daily visitors during the month of
comparative exclusiveness. The Crystal Palace can
hardly yet be said to bo open, and the million is still
impatiently waiting for the real inauguration of the edi-
fice. It begins to be a question of interest, and even of
gravity, how many will then press for admission at each
returning day. Will the number fall short of 100,000 ?
Will it not be prudent to confine the admissions to 60,000
or less? Will it not be necessary to provide for the
circulation of the multitude by arrangements -that will
considerably interfere with the pleasure and utility of
their visit ? In the mean time there is no doubt that
the number will be enormous. The well-known problem
,c,f, getting 50,000 mea out of Hyde Park will have to be
Solved every evening, "between six
and eight o'clock ;
and there are persons who ask, with unnecessary ap-
prehension, whether the mob, being in possession of so
capacious a palace, so magnificently furnished, will not
be reluctant to quit. Such fears are wholly imaginary,
' but they show the anticipations whlab .:prevail as to the
fa,-9m all parts of the
numbers that are likely to come,
world during the three next menthe to this marvellous
spectacle. A year ago it might have seemed rather wild
to talk in this manner, 'but the fact of 30,000 visitors a
day on the present higkterms imparts a probability to
the largest calculations.
Our immediate purpose in calling attention to this
fact, and to these calculations, is a matter of duty, and
by no means an agreeable Olii. Of the 30,000 daily
visitors at the Exhibition, some 'go there in private car-
riages, and some walk, but a very large portion go
is
omnibuses and cabs. From Regent's-circus, in Picca-
dilly, to the south door of the Exhibition, there is an
almost continuous stream of these vehicles to and fro,
and sometimes three or four abreast, from ten in the
morning to eight at night. We cannot help reflecting,
with concern, on the large amount of imposition that will
be practised on our provincial and foreign visitors in
that one item of their expenditure—their cab and omni-
bus fares, during their sojourn in the metropolis. Think
of a hundred thousand visitors a day, half of them igno-
rant of the laws and usages of this metropolis, and many
of them even of our language! Old Londoners them-
selves, practised as they are in the ways of the world, are
not always able to protect themselves from the most
shameless spoliation. How much less their country
cousins and their foreign guests, especially those of the
weaker sex! There is nothing of which an Englishman
professes such abhorrence as " tricks upon travellers."
He will pay anything if he can be euro that ho fares the
same as the natives, but he rebels at once if he finds his
ignorance imposed upon. Of course, we ought to give
our visitors the benefit of this equitable feeling, and
protect them from the hands of the spoiler as much as

WO ORE.
In the case of the omnibuses the scale of the spolia-
tion is not very large, for it is only a question of pence,
and it was bat the other day that no one could put his
foot into an omnibus without paying his sixpence, were
it but for fifty yards jolting. These, however, are cheap
times, and people now look twice at a penny before they
throw it away. Parisians, too, can go, by the system of
" correspondence," from any one part of Paris to any
other in a roomy vehicle, high enough for a man to stand
upright in, and divided into stalls, for the uniform charge
of threepence. When they arrive here they will find
that, on the alleged grievance of being obliged to give
passengers the space required by the law, all the omni-
bus proprietors raised their lowest fare to 4d. from the
day of the opening of the Exhibition. They will also
find that it is often difficult even for an old Londoner to
make out, while the omnibus is passing, whether the
charge to the Exhibition will be 4d. or 60., whether the
omnibus will go to the Exhibition at all, and whether it
will not charge 6d. for merely putting the passenger
down a quarter of a mile from the Exhibition, that
quarter of a mile to be traversed in heat, dust, or
rain, without even a pavement to walk upon. In
matter of fact, a vast number of passengers are
every day put down at the turn to Sloane-street, or to
Brompton, when they had fully believed themselves
booked for the Exhibition, and still greater numbers
are disgusted at receiving no change out of the sixpence
they tender the conductor, whether they are put down
at the Exhibition or a quarter of a mile short of it. The
omnibuses have ingeniously arranged their fares in
such a way that, while 4d. is prominently paraded on
the outside, a passenger has to pay 6d. for going even
from Ilyde-park•corner to turn off to Brompton. It is
4d. to and from the Bank and Charing-cross, and 6d.
beyond, that is, for every yard not between those two
stations. Now, we must say, that we should think it no
slight drawback from the credit which this country
will derive from the Exhibition, if foreigners were to
go away with the impressions they are likely to acquire
on the Knightsbridge-road. When a Frenchman or a
German gets into an omnibus at Regent's-circus, at the
top of St. James's-street, or perhaps at. Apsley [louse,
having seen the words " Exhibition" and " Fourpened
in large letters upon it, and finds himself charged 6 d.
for that mile or half-mile, and perhaps, after all, put
down a good walk short of the Exhibition, he will be
not a little disposed to set us down on the spur of the
moment as a nation of rogues. If it is possible, we
beg to submit that it is very desirable, that
no omnibuses should be allowed to show the word
" Exhibition" in largo letters unless it conveys
passengers actually to that place, and that on
no account whatever shall it charge more than
4d. for the faro between Charing-cross and
Knightsbridge. As all the omnibuses set down at one
spot, just opposite Rutland-gate, it would be easy to
have an officer stationed there in readiness to advise and
protect foreigners, in case they should think themselves
imposed upon.
But we pass on to a matter of shillings, not pence.
The relation of the metropolitan cabmen to foreigners,
strangers, and ladies, is simply that of the wolf to the
sheep tribe. Any one of the latter classes may justly
exclaim—

~ Lupis et agnis quanta sortito obtigit,
e Tecum mihi discordia est."
Ile must and will devour them to the end, and the only
remedy is to extirpate the wolf, and introduce a better
animal in his place. Under the present law, which ex-
tracts a revenue out of cabmen, and then leaves them,
like the publietev and sinners of old, to repay themseleee
by extortion, any fellow, however bad his character,may
pay his money, got a license, end become that l;o teu:
being, a privileged nehmen. As for the pee.cte_ ee a°",,
the materiel, the cabman, his horse, his vehicle,
,i r
a
at-
down, the cushions on the teats inside, d the tn
of fares. The
ray can describe them. We arc only
speakinghatever they may be,
man, the horse, and the vehicle, w
the end of Sloane"coats on the scut outside, none but a Dickens or a Tliacke •
half a mile.
street to the Exhibition, little more than
is
_our
take a couple of
f pence over
' The cabman is paid a shilling,
fhisegal fare. He demands
a liberal construction
and lioews his victims with abuse into
gentlemen from
than
sixpence more,
thef° doors of the Exhibition. There
the park, and up
remedytowhatever for his insolence, which is
ins, no, :
nicely in many
oases
a timid young lady, calls a cab at
To be liberal, and not to have a
course not a 17)1 e.
he pays the man is. 6cl. The cabman's
gGernotsivernaoarlgeasate°,l and drives round to Rutland-gate, of
die tdur b
instinctaece recognizes a victim, and he demands six-
pencereay more; he follows up his prey, collects a mob, and,
even if ho should fail of his object, his brutality has the
effect of driving the young lady half out of her senses.
Now here again there was no remedy, except one which
would have entailed a heavy penalty on the gen-
tleman, and a light one upon the cabman, for a day's
attendance at the police-office would have been a much
more serious affair to the gentleman than any fine likely
to be inflicted would have been to the cabman. There
was no immediate and effective remedy to prevent the
cabman
any means he might think proper
t
into compliance with his extortion.
bullyman fhrioum v i usingetim
Though there was an army of policemen within sight
and hearing, they could not interfere.
ea to
Now,
if this be a common position for gentian
..orty
find themselves in, after paying perhaps thirty 1
shillings a week in cab hire for the last dozen years o
more,
to
and having consequently become welltol_er.abelYasyil
acquainted with cab distances and cab law"; it 1
iii stand no
see that country people and foreigaeorsse
d to give them
chance whatever, unless something
ut under the
be dose
for this year
a helping hand. We beg to suggest_
at least, for the sake of humanity
the country, all hackney carriages
aad for the honour of
officer
made gableam to their re-
power of the police, and be Tying. to the Exhibition be
gulations. Let every cab drt
in case of dispute.
be in attendance state referee
foreigners and strangers will
There is no doubt
required to put down at
that Let him. Let him be furnished
always have to consultifares from all the cab-stands,
oneplace, and let an
with a table u
and principal streets in the
public buildbu various
the table may as well be printed
metropolis, .
a places in and about the Ex-
and posted
In the time has arrived that other measures
hibition. But
rnutnent character are necessary. Why
a ore Pe in all • •
of ldniaot tablets be placed our principal streets at
shou .
_if mile, marking the distances from the princi-
every p.
te of the metropolis? Why should not tables of
pal eau'
distances and fares be set up at all cab-stands, so that a
engages
a, may see the price of the article before he
____n
tow buy it? Common sense, too, suggests that no ul"
should be allowed to assume a position of such powertbe
over the lives and purses of her Majesty's subjects, '
certain to
be a notoriously had character, and therefefreb.
e.
be
con..
abuse that power. It also suggests that,
offence, if
vieted of rrilse(auluet, ou the second or third
._
the
opinion
not the first, be shall be disqualified. It '"
fares should he
of many that the system of legal made a matter of
abolished, and the hiring ot. cabs
re satisfactory footing
bargain. That would be a far
combines all the evils
than the present, which happily.
lc that there shall be
of license and of law. W
ii therea is to be law, let there
either license or law;
but,
observance and vindication.
be better facilities for its 0__......__

OF ENGLAND V. TWENTY.
when the score stood thus :—Yorkshire.
Two or yormsifißE.—This grand match, played at Sheffield,
wits'bratight to a-close,
—First Innings, 183. The Eleven.—First innings, 47 ; second
innings, 83 ; total, 130, and so the eleven were vaulthelled
one innings by 53 Ml6'

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