The Sun.
London, England, 1851-08-07 00:00:00

LOCOMOTIVE ENTERPRISE

A quarter of a century has not elapsed since the
Parliamentary agents for a Bill authorizing the con-
struction of a railway between Liverpool and Man-
chester vehemently importuned Mr. G. STEPHENS° N,
the engineer of the line, who bad been summoned to
give evidence before the Select Committee of the
House of Commons to which that Bill had been re-
ferred, not to state the probable speed which might
be attained by a locomotive on a railway at a higher
rate than fourteen miles an hour. "We do zof
doubt," said these gentlemen to Mr. STEPHENSON ,
" but that you will be able to attain a speed of eigh-
teen or twenty miles an hour,: but if you
were to make such a statement to the Committee
they would regard it as so extravagantly absurd that
they would at once reject the Bill ;" and the Parlia-
mentary agents were right; there can be no doubt but
that had those things been stated to the Committee,
which are now of every-day occurrence, the Bill
would have been rejected, and the cause of railway
progress would have been thrown back for years. We
well remember the anxiety, not unmingled with in-
credulity, with which the opening of the Liverpe of
and Manchester Railway was looked for, and the sert
of triumph with which (notwithstanding the unfortu-
nate death of Mr. Humus* the news of the comple to
success of the new system of locomotion was greeted
throughout the country. The idea of travelling
eighteen or twenty miles an hour appeared something
mar►ellous to those who had hitherto been accustomed
to regard twelve miles an hour as the fastest of fstst
travelling, and twenty-five miles, should such speed
be ever attained, was regarded as the ate plus ultra of
speed. Such has been the progress of improvement,
however, that, thanks to the skill and enterprise of the
directors and managers of our great railway compa-
nies, the present rate of locomotion exceeds the rate
of that on the earliest railway at the earliest
period, in much greater proportion than did the
rate of speed on the earliest railway at its earliest
period exceed the rate of speed of the then fastest
coach. What would the Parliamentary agents who
snubbed Mr. Gnonon STEPHENSON, or the members
of the Parliamentary Committee, who would have
regarded his moderate and carefully calculated state-
ments as the wild dreams of an enthusiast—what
would they have said had they been told that before
twenty-five years should have elapsed they would see
1,000 passengers and 3,000 packages of goods safely
conveyed from London to Paris in twelve hours ?
Why, even those who just twenty-one years
ago witnessed the wondrous opening of the
Manchester and Liverpool Railroad, and had
in consequence conceived some vague idea of the vast
powers of steam on the iron road, would have greeted
such a statement with a sneer of incredulity, yet such
have been the immense improvements introduced into
every department of science connected with locomotion
on iron roads, that, thanks to the skill and admirable
powers of organization of Mr. JAMES Macognoon, the
South-Eastern Railway Company dispatched on Fri-
day last a train with about 1,000 passengers and 3,000
packages of luggage from the London-bridge termi-
nus, and set them down in Paris the same evening,
after occupying not quite twelve hours on the journey !
That train was remarkable for having been the train
in which the LORD M.ATOR and the Royal Commis-
sioners, with their friends, proceeded to Paris on their
visit to the Prefect of the Seine, and as a matter
worthy of being placed on record, we give some of
the statistics of this, perhaps, the most remarkable in-
stance of the triumph of steam over time ever recorded.
The parties and the packages were at the London-
bridge terminus at nine o'clock in the morning, and
by thirty-five minutes past nine (so admirable had
been the arrangements of Mr. MACGREGOR), the
whole of them had been dispatched, and were en route!
On the arrival of the train at Folkestone, they were
embarked on board steamers and conveyed to Bou-
logne, where the party partook of a splendid
dOeuner, after which several speeches were delivered ;
this occasioned a delay of two hours. The party
then started, per railway, for Amiens, where another
fete was prepared, and more speeches were delivered,
and where, consequently, another delay took place;
and yet, notwithstanding these delays, the train ar-
rived in Paris at nine o'clock in the evening—the
travelling, embarking, sea passage, disembarking,
partaking of the good things set before them, and
speechifying—all occupying ONLY TWELVE HOURS.
We are informed in the account of the journey,
which appears in another column, that at Boulogne a
delay of two hours was occasioned; we may safely
calculate the delay at Amiens at one hour and a half;
and deducting these three hours and a half from the
twelve hours which elapsed between the departure
from London and the arrival at Paris, we shall find
this train, containing 1,000 passengers and 3,000
packages, actually performed the journey from London
to Paris in eight hours and a half—a circumstance
wholly unparalleled, we believe, in the history of
railway travelling

The Ecclesiastical Titles Assumption Bill had
scarcely become a portion of the statute law of the
land, the ink in which the Royal assent had been en-
dorsed on that salutary measure was scarcely dry,
when a determined and organized confederacy was
formed for the purpose not only of obtaining the re-
peal of the obnoxious Act, but of effecting the over-
throw of the "usurping Church," rescinding the
laws against the Jesuits, procuring the modification
of the Regency Act, so far as it prohibits Prince
ALBERT, or the Regent for the time being, from becom-
ing or contracting marriage with a Roman Catholic,
and authorising the attainment not only of the
highest legal office (the Lord Chancellorship) by pro-
fessors of Romish doctrines, but even of the throne
itself. These objects are not only sufficiently bold
in themselves to attract public attention, but they are
also put forward in the broadest and most unequivocal
language. The overthrow of the " usurping Church"
is distinctly spoken of, and the conversion of our
Most Gracious SOVEREIGN to what they are pleased
to term "genuine Christianity," is manifestly re-
garded not only as a possible, but an exceedingly pro-
bable event.

Under such circumstances it will be readily con-
ceded that the title of " Catholic Defence Associa-
tion," the name in which the new society rejoices, by
no means conveys an adequate idea of the objects of
its foundQrs. " Aggression " would be a more proper
phrase than " defence." The overthrow of an exist-
ing institution, whether it be legitimate or " usurp-
ing," is certainly more of an " aggressive " than
" defensive " character. The repeal of existing laws,
whether justifiable or otherwise, is of a like descrip-
tion. In every piat they contemplate invasion, and