The Sun.
London, England, 1860-09-03 00:00:00

the means which we thought the best calculated
to effect this object. I requested them to make the
necessary communications to their Govern met.ts,
and to unite in the steps we proposed to take.
Wishing to fix on some determinate bases for
these proceedings, the representatives, under the
reserve of the sanction of their respective Courts
agreed with me on the following points :-1.
Anim-
mediate declaration on the part of the five Great
Powers that they could no longer tolerate the pre-
sent state of things in the Christian provinces of
the Ottoman empire. 2. A demand for an organi-
sation, having for object to give to the Christian
provinces of the Porte effectual guarantees calcu-
lated to satisfy the legitimate complaints of the
people, and at the same time to tranquillise Eu-
rope with regard to the possibility of complications
which affected her generll interests as well as those
of Turkey." These were the basis agreed upon,
remember, in the Spring by the representa-
tives of the Five Great Powers assembled
together at St. Petersburg, in delibera-
tion upon the state of affairs in Turkey. And
in the Summer—came the Syrian Massacre of the
Christian population ! And—in the Autumn—has
arrived the punishment of the leading assassins !
A punishment which, as we have said, will not suf-
fice to satisfy the just demands, or to allay the
natural solicitude of the powers of Christendom.
These executions are only sufficient for the specific
offence, for the heinous guilt of which they are, as
far as they can be, the expiation upon a compara-
tively few individuals. Larger results must follow.
Upon this England, and France, and Russia, and
Austria, and Prussia are alike resolved.

Liverpool took the lead in giving England and
the world the greatest boon next to the steam-
engine itself—the Railway; and if America has
preceded us in the street railway, still young
Liverpool has taken the lead in giving England
the street railway. While Sir BENJAMIN HALL
and Lord JOHN MANNERS were waited on by
deputations to promote the object in vain, badgered
as they were by hostile parties also, other minds
determined to do the thing, somewhere. If a street
railway in successful and profitable working could
but be shown to the business men of this eountry,
then it was certain that the street railway would
become as common as the road railway, and Bir-
kenhead was the town in which the local commis-
sioners had the good sense to give the plan a fair
trial. Of course the mechanical success of the
undertaking was made quite sure by trials some
time before ; but last Thursday, the 30th of August,
was the day on which the new system was fairly
brought before the public, by the formal opening
of the railway. A merry day it seems to have been
in Birkenhead, as it deserved to be. Vast crowds
assembled to witness the running of the new car-
riages on the new road, and of course a banquet
and speeches wound up the business of the day.

As some of our readers may have overlooked
the description of the railway and its carriage,
we may advert again to the most important points.
The horse tramway, as it might be more properly
called, is nothing more than what most of us have
seen before in private establishments, where the
amount of hauling to be done is large. It consists
of two long parallel flat plates of iron, with the
outer edges of each turned up a little to prevent the
carriage from running off easily, but yet not so high
as to interfere with the ordinary traffic ; indeed,
common carriages can use them, turning off, of
course, when the omnibus for which they were laid
dowa makes its appearance. The tramways are
laid on longitudinal sleepers, and the work com-
pletely falsifies all the predictions of alarmists as to
any bad effect on the road itself, or as to its being
any obstacle to the traffic of all kinds and in all
directions. A kind of road is merely furnished,
which, by diminishing the friction, enables two
horses to do easily what would be hard, or impos-
sible work, for four. Even the benevolent fear ex-
pressed lest stones and rubbish getting on the tram-
way should make the draught still too laborious,
turns out, like all the other croakings, to be ground.
less. The carriage is fitted with sweepers, which
keep its road as clear from such minor obstructions
as can be desired ; and easy stoppage as well as
easy progress is provided for, hand-breaks at each
end fixing all the four wheels at once.

The carriages themselves appear already to be
all that can be desired ; certainly they are luxury
itself compared with what we now endure, squeezed
in the inside, perplexed to get past a double row
of hostile knees to enjoy even that privilege, and
equally perplexed to get out ; not to mention the
miseries of the elevated " knife-hoard," or your
alternative in front of the nudgings of the driver's
elbow, or the pressure of a thin rail of iron some-
where below the " fifth rib." You are allowed to
walk upright, if of the ordinary stature, seven feet
being allowed you for that purpose. Seven feet
are also allowed you in width, which leaves so
much room between the double row of knees that
it is proposed to utilise it when wanted, like the
aisles of SPURGEON'S Tabernacle, as standing
room. In a shower of rain it would certainly be
somewhat ungallant to refuse to stand up to admit
a lady to a seat ; on the other hand—we speak
without having yet seen—we should think it would
be no little diminution from comfort to have a
living wall, two or three feet thick and five or six
feet high, before you for half an hour. Such mat-
ters will, however, be soon adjusted between pro-
prietors and the public. As the carriages are 24
feet long, they will seat 22 inside, as many on the
roof ; and, it is said, as many more can stand if they
please—about 70 in all ! The wheels of the carriages
are like those of a railway carriage, but somewhat
smaller; and at each end of the vehicle is a small
platform about a foot from the ground, by which
passengers enter with ease, while it is protected
from the horses, which can be yoked to either end
by a large splash board.

Such are some of the principal features of the
new machine, as we may call it—for the rails and
the carriage form but one machine—by which we
are certainly at no distant time to traverse our
crowded streets. At present the omnibus ride is
the daily necessity and misery of thousands,—of all
who do not keep their own carriage, or who can-
not afford to " call a cab," as their regular means of
conveyance to the suburbs. Equally is it the bore
of those who must take one from the railway sta-
tion, an annoyance which the Metropolitan Rail-
way will soon materially diminish. We need not
say that another nuisance, frequently a greater
trial to patience than all, will be, we may hope,
entirely got rid of. Many times in the busy parts
of the day we have •known what it is to save time
by keeping to the pavement, from Temple Bar to
the foot of London-bridge, and of course over it;
not to mention the advantage, if health and strength
permitted, of avoiding the shaking and squeezing,
as well as the intolerable waiting till the lock-up of
carriages somehow got lose again. When a singe
omnibus will supersede three of the present aggres-
sors on our time, we may hope to get along a
little faster than our legs could easily carry us.
And yet another advantage we may look for—the
probability of finding a place in wet weather. Who
does not knoe that, unless he be near where the
omnibus starts from, he has no chance at all if the
day be one in which he most needs a conveyance.