The Sun.
London, England, 1834-10-28 00:00:00

profession.

It gives us great pleasure to learn from the Brussels
Papers that the Magistrates of that city have una-
nimously agreed to grant 30,000 francs annually
for the support of the free University. Such an
act of munificence is one of the most satisfactory proofs
that could be given, of the liberal and enlightened
views entertained by the Magistracy and other Public
Auths rides in Belgium.

By a communication which will be found under the
Lead " Dudley " in this day's Sun, it will be seen
hat the evidence of Mr. COOPER on the subject of

the destruction of the two Houses of Parliament, is
by no means entitled to the attention that has been
bestowed on it. The writer of this communication says,

" I have this day instituted the strictest inquiry into
the subject, and the result is, that there can be no doubt
but Mr.COOPER is, to say the least of it, labouring under
the most strange and unaccountable delusion," and
adds, " Mr. COOPER'S testimony is laughed at uni-
versally, both in Birmingham and Dudley." Enough
has already transpired on the subject of the late con-
flagration to prove that it originated wholly in acci-
dental causes.

The unity of opinion, of purpose, and of exertion,
which prevails among the great body of the representa-
tives of the people in Parliament, and the more influ-
ential and intelligent of their constituents, in the pro-
motion of all schemes of national improvement, is a
source of sincere pleasure to all who take an interest
in whatever concerns the welfare of the people of this
country. There is no longer that diversity of senti-
ment, that opposition of interest, or that conflict of
opinion discernible between the elector and the elected
which formed such a conspicuous discrepancy under
the old system. If the Reform Bill has done no more,

it has at least identified the interests of the Members
of the House of Commons with those of the great
mass of the people ; which is certainly one of the
safest guarantees the country could receive, that the
affairs of the lUnited Kingdom will be dealt with in a
spirit of strict integrity, and with a careful view to
the promotion of the common good. We do
not urge this in a spirit of triumph, intended
to reflect on the conduct of those who were most fiercely
opposed to this amalgamation of interests. We simply
state it as a fact, which is calculated to inspire us with
the most ardent hopes of the early amelioration of

the present condition of the labouring classes, in every
part of the United Kingdom, if they will only cordially
co-operate with those who are now engaged in pro-
jects for that purpose. A spirit of enterprise is abroad
—canals—steam companies—railroads—whatever di-
minishes human labour—facilitates the progress and
improvement of human industry, and surmounts the
obstacles in the way of national intercourse—is now
an object which every patriot is eager to promote,
which every able statesman seeks to encourage. Eng-
land has past that period in the nonage of nations, -
when the inhabitants are childish enough to believe
that the most round-about way of arriving at any
given termination is sufficiently expeditious, pro-
♦ided the journey be performed by themselves, to
Abe utter exclusion of foreigners. The cooping in of
kingdoms in the expectation that they can live inde-
pendent of each other—the inculcation of national
prejudices and hostilities—the jealousy of foreign
rivalship in the knowledge of arts and sciences, arc
systems exploded in - every enlightened legislative as-
sembly in Europe. The superiority of nations must
henceforth depend on the skill, the industry, and the
enterprise of the inhabitants—not on a restrictive
policy, the future effects of which must be the shutting
out from those who adopt it, of the comforts, the ele-
gances, and the knowledge of the civilized world, and
returning again to a state approaching to that of the
bulk of the people during the middle ages.
We have been tell to these observations by seeing
an advertisement, which will be found in another column,
proposing the construction of a railway communication
between the populous town of Preston and the Wyre, in-
cluding a pr3..::_t for improving the Harbour of the
Wyre, which would open a direct trade with Scotland
and Ireland. At the head of the enterprising body by
whom this scheme has been matured, we are glad to
see the name of Mr. HESKETH FLEETWOOD,
for the borough of Preston ; under whose auspices we
hope to see it soon carried into full and active opera-
tion. The report of the engineer, Mr. LANDMANN,
is not less remarkable for its brevity and ability, than
for the satisfactory account which it gives of the suc-
cess which must attend such an undertaking. We are

particularly struck with that part of it, which refers to
the passing of the railway through the towns of
Kirkham and Poulton, as it manifestly shows that the

engineer has paid the fullest attention to that subject;
nor are his remarks on the care that has been taken
in the projection of the line of road, so as not to intrude

on the privacy of the dwellings of the more respectable
inhabitants of the place, less a proof of his sagacity, and
fitness for the discharge of the office which has been

committed to him. A railway communication between
Preston and the Wyre, which would open a trade
between the great manufacturers of Lancashire and
the people of Scotland and Ireland, would be of
immense importance to the country generally,
and would provide the people of Ireland with
a most convenient market for their surplus pro-
Nor is this all. Mr. LAND-MANN
states in his report, that six hundred feet of railroad
would be sufficient to effect a junction between the
Preston line, and the proposed termination of the
(teat Northern Railway, by which means a direct com-
munication would be opened with the metropolis. In-
dependent of the advantages which a large trading com-
munity must derive from this facility of intercourse
with the richest metropolis in the world, we must
not overlook the wonderful effect which such constant
intercourse would have in improving the minds and
correcting the prejudices of the people. To the people
of Preston the advantages would be double as great
as they would be either to the citizens of London or
inhabitants of Scotland and Ireland—for, in

visions.

the first place, the navigation of the `'Tyre
would enable them to supply themselves with
an abundance of provisions at the cheapest rate, while
again their cheap and expeditious communication with►
the metropolis would provide them with the best
market for their manufacturing produce. - The outlay

on the undertaking is a mere trifle, and there is an ab

solute certainty that it will very shortly repay it.
All that is wanted is a number of spirited individuals

to take shares, anti push on the project, without
regard to any trifling obstacle that may for a
time impede their progress. Let it console them under

temporary disappointment, that they are engaged in
advancing the prosperity of England ; and that what-
ever efforts may be made to retard the construction of
railways, five years will not elapse before they shall

,ave intersected each other in the remotest parts of the
kingdom. As for us, we pledge ourselves to render
the projectors all the assistance of which we are capable.

EDINBURGH REVIEW AND LORD DURHAM.

liw

TO THE EDITOR OF THE CALEDONIAN MERCURY.

„.
Sin--As Lord Durham has been pleased to address a letter,
in regard to an article in the last number of the Edinburgh
Review, to the publishers of that journal, instead of address-
ing himself to the Editor; and as his Lordship has further
been pleased to publish that letter, without making the only
person who could have answered it aware of his intention, I
feel myself constrained, however reluctantly, to give to the
public, through your paper, that answer which, in substance, I
should have given to his Lordship, had his letter been ad-
dressed to the proper quarter • and which, in that case, he would
in fairness have been obliged publish along with it.
I should have at once informed Lord Durham that I was
responsible for the article in question ' • but I should have
refused, on any supposition, to tell his Lordship whether I
wrote that article myself or not ; because, had I done so
in his case, I could not refuse to do the like in every
other where the question might be put, and would
thereby have sacrificed the character and usefulness of the
publication committed to my charge. I would have vio-
lated, in fact, a known rule of honour and propriety ; and,
by so doing, would have justified any strictures that might
be made on my conduct, whatever they might chance to
be. But I should at the same time have stated, that I felt

it to be incumbent upon me, as Editor, to show that I had
not inserted an article containing any pointed charge
touching the public conduct of a distinguished public man
without facts which seemed to me to authorize its inser-

Lion, and of a kind to which I could refer without the vio-
lation of any confidential communication. With this view,
I should have endeavoured to show that the facts on which

the only charge which the article alluded to makes against
his Lordship—namely, that of having himself borne a
conspicuous part in a great measure carried by " compro-
mise and clipping"—were matters of public notoriety,
or natural inference from statements made by himself.
The fact that the franchise originally fixed upon by the framers
of the Reform Bill was a twenty-pound franchise has been more
than once alluded to in the House of Lords. It was particu-
larly mentioned both by Earl Grey and by the Lord Chan-
cellor on the 7th of October, 1831. And the fact that Lord
Durham was a member of the Cabinet Committee who
framed the scheme embracing that franchise, was disclosed,
about a year ago, by Lord Durham himself, at a public
dinner at Newcastle ; he having then spoken of the Bill
as framed by him, with the assistance of a small commit-
tee of his colleagues.' In as far as I know, the public
was not till then aware of there having been a Cabinet-
Committee appointed to digest the scheme, or of Lord
Durham's share in it. If this be true, as to the best of
my knowledge and belief it is, Lord Durham must be
viewed as the primary divulger of this piece of Cabinet
procedure. Now, I would have taken leave to ask his
Lordship, whether the facts just specified, joined with those of
a public nature regarding Lord Chandos's amendment, the
freemen's franchise, and the restriction of burgh votes, are not
the whole facts upon which the charge brought against him in
the Review is founded ; -end whether, if this be true, there was
any good ground for the allegation, that those facts were
,4 assumed" without any authority ?
It is no doubt possible that I may have drawn an infer-
ence, not historically correct, from Lord Durham's statement
at Newcastle ; for it is possible that his Lordship may
• have dissented from his colleagues as to the twenty-
pound franchise; but as I do not see how such a fact could
be reconciled with his avowed pretensions in regard to the
framing of the Reform Bill, I hardly think that any candid
person could view him as wantonly wronged by the
publication of an article partly founded upon such an in-
ference as that to which I have referred. If, when telling
his audience at Newcastle what he did tell them, Lord Dur-
ham did not also say that he had demurred or objected as
to the franchise agreed upon by his colleagues, can he blame
me' in proceeding upon the supposition that he did not dissent,
as having drawn an overstrained or ungenerous conclusion ?
I humbly think that he cannot ; and that if no public writer
errs farther than to draw such an inference, and to reason

upon it, in temperate language, there would be but little
reason afforded to any public man to complain of unfair deal-
ing on the part of the Press. _ .....

I have the honour to be, Sir,
Your humble servant,
Edinburgh, Oct. 24. MACVEY NAPIER.
* See the Times newspaper, 28th October, 1833.

THE FUNDS.-(THIS DAY.)

CITY, TWELVE O'CLOCK.

Our arrivals are this morning one French mail and two
Hamburgh, with the express from Paris. The contents
of the three former mails are already in print ; with respect
to the express from Paris, it contains little news of im-
..
portance.

The French Government have published a telegraphic
dispatch from Bayonne, which we suppose is merely to con-
tradict the, report of the defeat of General Lorenzo. It
states the General to be at Pampeluna, on the 14th inst.
Also that Don Carlos has failed in an attack on Bilboa,
and was on the 15th inst. at Tunica.

Accounts from Constantinople, state that the plague was
on the decrease.

The French papers do not bring any later news from
Madrid than we have previously received, of the 18th inst.
We have no arrivals of ship letters.
In commercial affairs in the city an improvement has ra-
ther taken place, and money is more abundant for commer-
cial concerns. The East India Company's periodical sale
of silk, which has concluded, went off at an advance of from
71 to 12 per cent. on the quotations realised in the March
sales. The total quantity of silk in the warehouses of the
East India Company, which now remains unsold, is as fol-
lows :—Bengal, 3,975 bales ; private trade China Silks,
1,014 bales ; and Bengal Silk, 29 bales, making a total of
5,018 bales.

Havannah papers to the 17th of September, received at
the North and South American Coffee-house, do not con-
tain any intelligence of consequence, but the private letters
state that sugars and Coffees are very high in price, and
will, if sent from England to that part of the world, realize
a profit.
A gentleman who has arrived by a steamer from Co-
runna, which he left on the 21st instant, reports that Ge-
neral Mina has taken the command of the Spanish army,
which at present we do not credit, as the Bayonne tele-
graph would have announced that important event.