The Sun.
London, England, 1856-11-27 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY

every " varnished Cossack" would sing Te DCUMS

,o the Czar who had fleeced his enemies in time

of peace. The troops would ride to Kaffa or to
Warsaw, enlivening their transit across their

barren steppes by the band playing the new
Russian popular air of " The Western Sharehold-

ers' Folly."

We begin to hOpe, however, that the Westerns
may yet save the Russian bards and minstrels the

;rouble. The letter of th• " Hertfordshire Iu

cumbent," which we inserted yesterday, must open
the eyes of all who wish to see. Two things are
quite plain, both of which we insisted on from the
first, that the lines are military, not commercial
lines, and that they will never pay, for this gene-
raticn at least. As to the first, we know that
hundreds care not twopence whether they make
money out of a loan to crush Hungary, or a rail-
road that might ultimately bring Russia to the
confines of India. Money is money to such men ;
if in shifting the shares about, they can get a per-
centage, or make a " good spec" by Bear and
Bull feats on the Exchange, the money would be
quite as acceptable as the most honourable gains.
We trust, however; that the fact referred to will

prevent so many better men from entertaining the
project for a moment that the shares will never

float. We suppose it is the obvious military
character of the proposed lines which has called
forth the fiat from the Ruler of France, forbid-
ing the French newspapers to advertise the shares.
He may also think that it is better for him that
money should flow into Frances than out of it.
As to the profit, never was the old adage of
" dreading the Greeks even with presents in their
hands" more appropriate. Already the gifts are
augmented ; 16,0001. per mile is now to be
allowed instead of 10,0001. for construction ; iron
is at last to be imported duty free for railway
purposes ; and the interest guaranteed is raised to
5 per cent. All very plausible ; but what if the
difficulty of obtaining efficient labour on the
barren plains of Russia, the large rivers to be
crossed, the lengthened undulations of the steppes
and long cuttings, the dearness of serf labour,
and the remoteness from the appliances of civilised
life, should make the railways as costly as in more
thickly-peopled countries. Why, then, the result
is that the railways may cost almost. double the
estimate, and the lucky shareholders will receive
no interest at all. One piece of cunning worthy
of Russia—worthy rather in its audacity than its
dexterity, is a clause in the agreement which will
enable the Russian Government as the end of
twenty years to purchase the lines, on the basis
of the nett profits for the preceding three years.
Should these therefore be, as we fully expect they
will be, nil—then Russia will take possession of
the lines, having merely paid interest, perhaps one
per cent. on the actual cost, to the shareholders
for the twenty years. There is but one way in
which terms worth hating cau be had from Rus-
sia, and that is the old and approved one, the
way in which all good bargains are made with the
Russian Government namely, by handsome
bribes to the " offs," " golfs," and " koffs," whose
official salaries would starve them, but whose cor-
ruption makes their fortunes.
Really, after all, the impudence of Czardom is
as great as it is cunning. Its schemes are as
shameless as they are plausible. From the con-
clusion of the " precious peace" to this hour the
overreaching has been so palpable, though al-
ways defended by some plausible but dishonourable
subterfuge, that one almost questions the superior
cunning of Russia. It is the cunning of an
acknowledged sharper. There is nothing like it,
except Yankeeism, in the world. You are cheated
to your face. If you don't resent it, or yield for
peace and quiet, it is a triumph ; if you show
your horns, there is no blushing, it is only to hold
out if possible, and to retreat. Russia is not
really angry when she blusters. That is all mere
assumption and pretence to carry her point if
possible. She is only angry with herself if she
has not been quite deceitful enough. Like other
impudent knaves she " tries it on." If Europe
will make her army four times more dangerous
by building her railways, if the Allies will allow
her to get water communication with the Danube
by a false map, or to threaten its mouth by seiz-
ing a Turkish island, all well ; if not, why she is
none the worse off. Honour she has not lost, not
having the article to lose; and of territory she has
lost none, for she had no right to it. Russia is
the embodiment of audaoious cunning.

The junction of the Pacific and Atlantic
Oceans by means of the proposed Honduras
Railway would appear to be one of those things
which are at once exceedingly desirable and
practicable. In these days of steam despa;,,sh
gold mining and astounding colonial development,
a sehsine .tellich -7-ill insure a 'axing 1,--jOO or
2,000 miles in the route to India, China, and
Australia is worthy of more than a momentary
consideration, and such a scheme is the forma-
tion of the railway in question. Crossing the 160
or more miles of territory intervening between the
two oceans, the Honduras Riilway will carry
European and North American travellers, mails,
and merchandise at a rapid rate to the remark-
ably capacious Bay of Fonseca or Conchagus, from
which steamers, owing to the almost unbroken
calm, can speed them on the Pacific towards their
destination at the rate of 15 or 20 mills au
hour. The practicability of the scheme
comes next in order, and on this head we beg
to refer the reader to the letter of Dr. SOIIERZER,
of the Imperial Academy cf Vienna, to Sr.
DON VICTOR Honne.sr. The learned doctor,
it will be seen, points out the great valleys of the
rivers Ulua and Goascoran (the former emptying
itself into the Gulf of Honduras and the latter
into the Pacific) as offering every facility for the
construction of the line. Collectively, he tells
us, these valleys have a length of 160 English
miles, and, the greatest elevation of the country
where they may be said to join each other is but
2,400 feet. The thorough reports," he proceeds
to say, " which have been published on the pro-
posed railway by Mr. SQUIER, formerly Minister
of the United States in Central America, supported
as they are by the high authority of Captain,
FITZROY, R.N., in his communication to Inrd
CLARENDON on the subject, render it unnecessary
for me to enter into details ; and I accordingly
confine myself to saying that, throughout my tra-
vels, I have had abundant opportunities of
verifying these reports, and can testify
to their accuracy." As to the eligibility
of the proposed railway route we have this testi-
mony—" Between Mexico and New Granada filere
is no point which from its geographical position is
so favourable as that afforded by the. isthmus of
Honduras, and whether we look to the transnort
of passengers or of merchandise, the rapid trans-
mission of the mails and of treasure between. the
Atlantic States of the United States and Cali-
fornia, or betweon Europe and .A.ns;ralia and
China, in all these respects its advantages are
most obvious. The ports which form the points
of departure on both seas combine the conditions
most favourable for the realisation of the vast en-
terprise, but more especially that on the Pacific.
The Bay of Fonseca may perhaps be considered
as the safest and most commodious port on the