The Sun.
London, England, 1851-09-19 00:00:00

1059

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reclamation.

Whereby it must be sufficiently obvious that each
individual employing a fiacre possesses at once a se-
curity against extortion and a means of recovering
any property that may have been forgotten on leaving
the conveyance. The advantages of such a system as
the one hero indicated must, we conceive, be at once
self-evident. It smooths the way before everyone
indiscriminately. It prevents wrangling and other an-
noyances which in England not unfrequently lead to the
agreeable alternative, of a black eye or a prosecution.
A cabstand in the two capitals presents, consequently,
a spectacle diametrically opposite in character—the
one being almost invariably a nucleus of
filth and blackguardism, while the other is
as conspicuous for its combination of cleanliness
and respectability. The genus of the drivers, too, is
equally remarkable for its vivid and glaring contrast
of decency on the one side and a rudeness almost
barbarous on the other. We speak, of course, of the
two as classes—individuals, of course, being discover-
able among each marked by characteristics essentially
distinct in their difference.

What we would inculcate upon these matters as
advisable may be very readily expressed—our solici-
tude being directed simply to the adoption, in
several respects, of the suggestions yielded us in
regard both to cabs and omnibuses, by our republican
but luxurious neighbours. In these particulars we may
in all truth apply the ejaculation of LAURENCE
STERNE at the beginning of the last century—" They
manage these things better in France"—and stimu•
lated by the knowledge of that fact, it is earnestly
to be hoped that we may secure to our-
selves some at least of these long-desired
improvements. Until recently, no effort what-
ever was adventured upon for the reform of the
very ricketty system regulating the public convey-
ances of the metropolis ; but the clamour raised at
length by the indignation caused by so much mingled
extortion and inconvenience compelled the autho-
rities, as we have seen, to interfere in
some measure at least for the protection
of the interest and of the comfort of the population.
A trivial improvement has been the consequence—so
trivial, however, that further innovations must be
allowed to be imperatively requisite. These innova-
tions we are satisfied must be very speedily intro-
duced in obedience to the mandate of public opinion,
and all our anxiety in this regard is restricted to the
hope that the admirable system at present enforced
throughout Paris may be taken as a model of
that demanded for her MAJESTY'S lieges in London
and Westminster.

THE LORD CHANCELLOR'S SALARY.—The follow-
ing provision respecting the Lord Chancellor's salary in the
new Act 14th and 15th Victoria, cap. 83, by which a saving
of 4,0001. a-year will be efiected, will come into force in a
short time :—" From and after the 11th of October,{lBsl, the
salary of the Lord Chancellor shall be the net yearly sum
of 10,0001., and there shall be deducted under the Act (2d
and 3d William IV ~ cap. 122), the amount of any salary or
sum which for the time being may be payable to the Lord
Chancellor as Speaker of the House of Lords, so that such
yearly sum only shall be paid by the Governor and Com-
pany of the Bank of England to the Lord Chancellor under
and according to the provisions of the said Act as, with the
salary or sum certified to be payable to the Lord Chancellor
as such Speaker, shall be sufficient to make up the net yearly
sum of 10,0001., and the clerk assistant of the Parliaments
shall on or before the 11th of October, 1851, and from time
to time, so often as the salary or sum payable to the Lord
Chancellor, as such Speaker, is altered, rectify in writing,
under the hand of such clerk assistant to the said Governor
and Company, the amount of the salary or sum for the time
being, payable to the Lord Chancellor as such Speaker."
The salary as Speaker of the House of Lords was 4,0001.,
and the salary of the Lord Chancellor 10,0001. For both
offices the salary is now fixed at 10,0001.

POST-OFFICE NOTICE.—The overland mail for India
vi 6 Marseilles, will in future be made up and dispatched from
London on the evening of the Bth of each month, instead of
on the evening of the 7th, as at present, except when the Bth
of the month falls on a Sunday, and on these occasions the
mail will be dispatched on the evening of the following day.
VISCOUNT PALMERSTON....--It is now generally un-
derstood that her Majesty's Foreign Secretary will pay his
constituents a visit within a week or ten days. Arrange-
ments are already making to invite his Lordship to a public
dinner, when he will probably enter fully into the subject of
the present position, recent acts, and future intentions of
her Majesty's advisers. —Blterborne Journal.

PRESENTATION TO DAVID HUTCHESON, ESQ., BY
THE EX-ROYAL FAMILY OF FRANCE.—Mr. David Hutche-
son, the managing partner of the Highland Steam-boat
Company, has just been presented by the ex-Royal Family
of France with a handsome and very valuable silver vase,
ornamented with gilt figures, in acknowledgment of the
courtesy and attention which that gentleman paid to the
Royal exiles during their late tour through the western high-
lands. The workmanship is by the celebrated Odiot, of
Paris.--Glasgow Witness.

HOPE FOR THOSE WHO WISH REFORM IN WO-
awes DRESS.—An ‘‘ exchange" says that short skirts
don't receive half the ridicule which was bestowed upon the
man who first had the hardihood to appear in public with an
umbrell4......Balfaio Patriot.