The Sun.
London, England, 1833-05-09 00:00:00

bable advantages and disadvantages of the pro-
posed scheme are fairly considered. The author
enumerates all the injuries which are likely to

arise to individuals from the establishment of
this mode of communication ; but he seems to

overlook the important fact that, although many

of the common carriers and others may be
thrown out of the present mode of obtaining
subsistence, there is nothing to prevent their
sharing, by the adoption of new pursuits in the
general benefits which may be expected to re-
sult from the new plan. It does not follow, that
because a man cannot continue to earn his bread
in the way of his ancestors that he is therefore
to starve ; and we are quite sure that there is
not an industrious person now connected with
the trade and intercourse of Greenwich who
would not be able to exercise his industry with
equal or more perfect success after the establish-
ment of the railway than now. But were the
contrary the fact, what are the claims of indivi-
duals to those of the public at large ? Is the
proposed alteration in the mode of communica-
tion between towns, an improvement or not ?
Will it facilitate the commercial and social rela-
tions of man ? Is it in accordance with the
general spirit for " progressing," which marks
the present age? We decidedly say that it is ;
and without much difficulty we will show that it
is essential to our political, as well as mercantile
interests—not less important to the liberty of
trade, than to the liberties of the press. We do
not, of course, talk of Greenwich, or of any par-
ticular town, but of the railway mode of com-
munication as it must soon be throughout the
whole of England, despite the prejudice and
ignorance which are still arrayed against
it. It requires no argument to convince
the merchant and the general trader that
if he can travel from London to Birmingham
and back within the twelve' hours, and also
transact business there, he will enjoy an advan-
tage which he does not now possess. Neither will
it he difficult to convince the social man that the
facility of intercourse by which persons will be
able to visit their friends at a distance of 200
miles in one day, and return the next, will very
much improve the social relations of life. But,
looking at the thing in a mere public light, need
we say much to show that the increased speed
of travelling will promote public liberty? In
countries where the transmission of news is
tedious and impeded, Governments can stifle
the expression of public opinion ; but with
railways on the face of the country, the defender
of our liberties in the House of Commons may
almost imagine that all England is listening to
his speech, since in less than twelve hours it
will be conveyed to the Land's End ! In
countries where the general communication be-
tween the capital and the provinces is difficult
and tedious, nothing is more easy than for the
authorities to anticipate the effect of public
opinion, and to cause the blood to stagnate as it
flows from the heart to the limbs; bUt we will
defy any Government to interrupt the course of
public opinion in a country where, in ten hours'
time, the newspapers of the metropolis may be
received at a distance of more than 200 miles.
A contemporary, in alluding to railways,
says—" What has been the progress of speed in
horse conveyance, compared with what is now
accomplished by steam ? What a vast improve-
ment has been effected in the means of inter-
course, whether for business or pleasure, by
means of steam-coaches or railways !" How
delightful it is to travel at the rate of twenty
miles an hour, without cruelty to animals, and
without personal risk. Who that has been from
Manchester to Liverpool on the railway would,
if he could avoid it, ever get into or upon a
stage coach again ? No lashing of poor jaded
horses,—no stopping at public houses,—no
risk of breaking one's neck by the stumbling
of a horse or the entanglement of a rein ;
twenty miles an hour without hazard, without
cruelty, at less than half the former cost, and
with au important economy of time ! Oh !
that railways covered the surface of the land !
One might breakfast in London, and dine in
Liverpool; or breakfast under the towers of
Notre Dame in Paris, and sup near St. Paul's
go to Brighton or Oxford for an airing before
dinner, and return in time for the soup as easily
as we now attempt to procure an appetite by
walking in the Park.

It would be seen by our Parliamentary report
of Tuesday that Lord ALTHORP altered his plan
of a graduated duty on advertisements to a fixed
duty of one shilling and sixpence. Under all
the circumstances we think this an improvement ;
but it has been considered rather extraordinary
that neither Mr. COBBETT nor Lord ALTHORP,
in the recent discussions on the stamp duties,
alluded to the newspaper stamps. Mr. Con-
BET T, it is said, does not take quite so
much interest in the reduction of this tax as
some of his literary colleagues in the House of
Commons ; but nothing has transpired to indi-
cate the slightest hostility on his part to the
proposal made by Mr. BULWER for its total
repeal—a proposal, in our opinion, altogether
absurd ; and although Lord ALTHORP care-
fully abstained from any allusion, it is not fair
to infer that he has forgotten the pledges which
he gave when he came into office, and that he
has determined on continuing so odious an im-
post, merely because the reduction of it would
not, in his opinion, give relief to the indus-
trious classes, whose condition he wishes, much
to his credit, to see improved.
We think both Mr. COBBETT and Lord
ALTHORP must, upon reflection, admit that,
however important the reduction of the stamp
duties generally would be to the middle and
lower classes, the reduction of this particular
tax would be a boon to the industrious man,
which he would acknowledge with gratitude,
and which woi:id be attended with the best
possible effect. Of late years, mental occupa-
tion among the industrious classes has become
general, and a newspaper is now almost as essen-
tial to the poor man as to the rich. Such,
however, is the price of a newspaper, from the
enormous amount of the stamp duty, that the