The Sun.
London, England, 1851-12-17 00:00:00

EGYPT.

Mr. R, Stephenson arrived at Alexandria on the
25th ult. in his yacht the Titania, and proceeded a
few days after to Cairo by land, in order to inspect the
country well, and to come to a final decision with re-
gard to the precise course to be adopted for the
Egyptian Railway. Mr. Stephenson seems to think
that the best plan will be to carry the railroad over
the barriv,'where the bridges are in a very forward
state, apd he is determined to endeavour to have the
line in working condition within three years' time.

FRENCEI RAILWAYS AND THE

FRENCH GOVERNMENT.

The Minister of the Interior, M. de Marny, invited
the managing directors of the principal railways to
a conference on Sunday. There was a full attendance.
The Minister commenced by stating that he had
solicited the present conference with the representa-
tives of the railway companies, seeing that the rail-
way system had now assumed an extent and im-
portance in France second only to the administrative
functions of the Government itself. It might, he
said, be a powerful arm in aid, not only
of the cause of order and public safety,
but of the Salvation of the social fabric itself,
threatened with dissolution by wild beasts (beteB
faeces) in human shape, whose outrages in the pro-
vinces are a disgrace not merely to France. but to
the civiliz ition of the 19th century. The President
of the Republic and his Government, he said, were
determined, at all hazards, and at whatever sacrifice,
to oat out this rotten part from the body politic, and
to save society from dissolution into its very elements.
They counted, and he hoped they might
safely count, upon the cordial co-operation of all
well-disposed citizens in general, and more especially
upon that of influential public bodies like the directors
of railways, who disposed of a numerous manufac•
turing and working population. The Government in
every department, and in none more than that over
which he had the honour to preside, had been inexor-
able in dismissing all those functionaries., superior or
subordinate, who were known to entertain Socialist
opinions, and to be active in the promulgation of
them. That painful duty had devolved upon himself
pc..rAonally, in more than one instance in his own de-
partment; and he entreated the gentlemen present not
to allow favour or affection to stand in the way of a
similar sacrifice of feeling upon the altar of duty.
Tne Minister said he was happy to state, for the in-
formation of those gentlemen, that the President of
the Republic and his Government do not at all par •
ticipate in that insane jealousy of the railway com-
p and the great and industrial establishments of
the country generally which, unfortunately, charac-
terizad preceding administrations. The President, he
said, had narrowly watched, and carefully studied
the results of the great commercial enter-
prises of England, both before and during his residence
in that country. He is desirous that France should
follow in the same track, and thus gradually arrive
at the development of the great natural and industrial
resources of the country. They might depend upon
it that so far from being jealous of the gains and the
and
of the companies, the President heartily
i
sincerely wished all honest and industrious
men
ent_ ilght double their gains by using legiti-
means ; and that there is nothing which the
commerce and indusiT
• 3 of the coun‘,ry can ask, as
conducive to its prosperity that the President will not
be ready to grant. Of thii's, he observed some indi-
cations might be seen already. (The Minister was
here understood to allude to the decree just issued,
authorizing the constructiornni,:lif
itnhe
to connect the various ter
cost of the companies and the State; Paris,l
to the otherj
public works now in hand with a view of affording
employment to the people.)
M. Juyer, a director of the Strasbourg Railway
(formerly Minister of Public Works), assured
the
Minister, _ p sent, that
the part of the gentlemen re
the Government should always
.find the most cordial
support from the railway authorities, not only to the
extent of the material obligations imposed on them
by their rezpectivo laws of concession, but also the
moral support which it was the imperative duty of
every well-disposed citizen to give under existing
circumstances.
The Minister expressed his great satisfaction at re-
ceiving that assurance, and the conference then
Leriunaatt.d.
The representatives of the Strasbourg Railway
remained with the Minister after the other gentlemen
left tine audience chamber. It was understood they
were to demand tiae
_n
concession of a branch from St.
Donidzietrhti,t)
uladn.t he portant" feeder " to that line,
granted. The present would
seem to be tho moment for the shareholders in the
Cette and Avignon Railways to ush for the restitu-
tion of their caution 111011. y.

A TowNKILLED WITH KIN
''------, --=---------
ss —Drolly enough,
Bedford is an example cf a IowDaNIR -.
by Lie niiinhe;illeti with kindness. It
wealth of its chi-
has been puperLied i
rifles. A mechanic or small tradesman can send his chili, if
n older, to
when
when ihe b. free
school.
it be sick, to a tree hospital;
where even books are provided
be obtained from a charity; atohyal;
ticed, a fee mayappren-
ticed,
apprenticeship, a second fee; on the expirationthe time
term, a third; on going to service, a fourth;ithe of the
marries,
he expects to obtai:f from a. charity fund " a portion
with
his wife, also educated at a charity ; and if he has not suffi-
cient industry or prudence to lav by for old age_and these
are virtues which he is not likely to practice—he looks for-
ward with confidence to being boarded and lodged at one of
Bedford's 59 almshouses.—Sidney's Rides on Railways.
Tll9 Bucks Chronicle states, last Tuesday, a Di,s-
seating minister, named Fletcher, aged 105 years, preached
at Winslow Independent Meeting Honest