The Sun.
London, England, 1858-09-01 00:00:00

grievance thus got rid of had long been glaring. It
had come at last to be simply intolerable. So_
with a stroke of the pen, as it were—the thing was
at once summarily done away with. While the Re-
formers (so-callcd) were in power, we had to groan
helplessly under the weight of this among other
kindred annoyances. Directly the old T obstruc-
tives (so-cidled) came in their place, there was forth-
with visible in this direction and in that, here, there,
and everywhere, a clear sweep with the besom of
destruction. Despatches that had remained unac-
knowledged at the Foreign-office, were, without any
further delay, answered. A deficit at the Treasury
was replaced by the reasonable prospect of some-
thing like a surplus—and this without any grinding
burthen in the way of additional taxation. Some-
thing required to be at once adventured upon in
regard to the abomination of the 'Thames, once a
limpid river, now a loathsome cesspool—full power
to act was at last boldly vouchsafed the hitherto-
hampered Metropolitan Board of Works. To Mr.
THWAITES and his colleagues the responsibility was
deputed frankly, almost unconditionally. Descend-
ing even to matters of mere local interest—there was
the Nelson Column in the heart of the British capi-
tal still—to windup the Whig Chapter of Accidents
—disgracefully unfinished. The Chancellor of the
Exchequer—of all men in the world, the very Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer—relaxed his grasp upon the
national purse-strings, and spontaneously pledged
himself to the removal (as quickly as art and enter-
prise could well contrive it) of this miserable blot
upon the national escutcheon.

It was, therefore, only in strict keeping with the
rest of the Ministerial acts, when her MAJESTY'S
Principal Secretary of State for the Colonies, in the
early part of last summer, inaugurated his accession
to power by a variety of bold measures in the way of
innovation and reorganisation. Suddenly called into
existence a new colony in the shape of British Co-
lumbia ! Doomed to an inevitable downfal thereby
the monstrous old commercial monopoly of the
Hudson's Bay Company ! Concluded an exchange
with France of two little colonies on the coast of
Africa—an exchange that immediately, as if by
magic, put an end to a series of disastrous heart-
burnings on our own part and on that of our Allies ;
quieting troubles, almost squabbles, that had pre-
viously threatened to be wellnigh interminable !
And among other changes for the better—bold,
prompt, and thorough—extinguished upon the in-
stant the old delusive will-o'-the-wisp, the old
teasing tantalising ignis fatuus of the now dead and
gone mail contract between this country and its
colonists in Australia.

Now that the work of destruction has been fairly
accomplished, there comes pressing upon us more
and more heavily every day the necessity of at-
tending quickly and vigorously to the toil and re-
sponsibility ssf reconstruction. The old mail con-
tract done away with—a new one must be at once
established. The Colonial Secretary who has
" done the deed" requiring this inevitable sequel—
needs no reminder of the responsibility he has
thus created for himself; of that we may certainly
rest perfectly well assured. It is natural enough,
however, that before another and a better and
wiser, and more effectual mail contract is entered
into at the instance of the right hon. baronet,
it is perfectly reasonable, we say, in anticipation of
this, that those who are more deeply interested in
the transaction than anybody else could be sup-
posed to be (meaning the Australians themselves)
should seek to bring their own views upon the matter
early and betimes before Sir EDWARD LYTTON, as the
chief of the Colonial Department. Hence a memorial
is prepared setting forth the whole case clearly and
logically—it is signed by some four hundred influ-
ential merchants and officials—it is conveyed to the
Colonial Secretary and read to him, and enforced
with spoken arguments by the members of an inte-
resting and authoritative Deputation. The Deputa-
tion was received on Monday afternoon in Downing-
street, was received and listened to by Sir E. B.
LYTTON, and after eliciting from him every possible
encouragement that could be reasonably hoped 1,,,r
under the circumstances, was not injudiciously re-
ferred by the right hon. baronet to the Treasury.
The particular memorial presented to the Colonial
Secretary by this Deputation, although divided into
some nine or ten separate sections or paragraphs,
appears to us to have compressed the whole pith and
marrow of it into a single one (the fourth), namely,
that which argues, powerfully and sententiously,
"that while, in deference to the wishes of the
southern and western colonies of the Australian
group, the route by way of Suez should be main-
ained, the interests of the northern and eastern
colonies demand that a new route by way of Panama
should be established, the mails being conveyed
alternately by either route, so that each portion
of the whole group may share equally the
great advantage derived from being made
the point of first arrival and of last departure
of the mails." Upon the advantages which must
by necessity accrue from precisely such an arrange-
ment as this, we ourselves have often before now, and
sometimes at considerable length, expatiated. As to
the inadequacy of the old system, that adhering
exclusively to the one route via Suez, the next
paragraph of the memorial is sufficiently explicit,
11
when it says, "that the insufficiency of the postal
service via Suez to the wants of the northern and
eastern colonies is such, that twice only in the time
during which it has been in use have replies been
received from Sydney by return of post : it is com-
paratively of little use to the district of Moreton Bay
(about shortly to be erected into a separate colony),
which would receive its mails tin Panama as soon as
Melbourne ; and New Zealand, although willing to
share the expense, can derive but little advantage
from the service." Shortly after all which follows
the satisfactory intimation, " that the feeling of the
colonists of New South Wales and New Zealand has
already been so clearly manifested, that the Govern-
ments of both those colonies have unanimously voted
a large sum to establish a mail service by the Panama
route ; the former £35,000 a year, the latter
£15,000." Altogether just exactly ,Cso,oooannually,
guaranteed by the Australians themselves, to defray
the expenses of conveying the mails to and fro be-
tween Panama and our antipodes. The last assur-
ance given to the members of the Deputation on
Monday must have been to them the most acceptable
of all—namely, his distinct avowal that he himself
is not only in favour, but strongly in favour, of the
double route—vi(i Suez, rut Panama—going and
coming every fortnight alternately. It is half the
battle won. The next thing to be done, as was
intimated to the Deputation—is to storm the
Treasury !

The Earl of Malmeshury arrived in town yester-
day afternoon, from attending her Majesty during her visit
to Prussia.

The Earl of Beverley and Lady Louisa Percy
intend to pass the winter at Torquay.
Lord Stanley has returned to town from visiting
the Chancellor of the Exchequer at his seat in Bucking-
hamshlre.

Mr., rlra., and Miss Phillips have left the Queen's
lintel, Upper Norwood, for Brighton.

LONG'S HOTEL—Arrivals : Mr. and Mrs. Sitwell
and the Rev. L. Corbett, from Paris ; Baron and Baroness
Stockl, from the United States; Baron Maltvihn, from
Germany; Lord North, Sir John Ivor Guest, Bart., and
the lion. Chas. Eliot.

effect. Some
NEW INDIA ACT.—To-morrow (Thursday)
the new act for the better government of India will take
on the suSbojniecert
day of its a
received the royalc
the expiration
thereof." The a
several Presid
misunderstandingi has existed as to the precise
that
but the words of the statute are clear
or,itt) shall " commence and take effect on
I to take etitucctlitsi'llirlla.fr° '
t on
THE DEAN 01. CAl:mt. n.
BTON.—The Bishop of CarslilL,l
. assent-
days after the
to
olieb day of the passing
pasted onnatittehe2id.laeyef August, when it
urpose of inquiring into
ot holding an open court ane
for the P
dean (Dr. Close) and the Rev. Thome"
M.A., late minor canon and precentor ofsti
venyd. porfoctliajei mperdo inla
atjahe.
ANDi PRECpET:toyTOtbiteetwLdeieeNani NI, ahl
ne-
,-iraus announced hie intention
for
nxi :Oct Gott
Cathedral. It
Livingston,
Will be remembered that Mr. Liviox•ntoe
by
somewhat
office unceremoniously dismissed from his otti
consequence of his not showing sufficient respect to that
high ecclesiastical functionary. The bishop, as visitor, will
he called rtpon to adjudica►e between the parties. The sub-
ject has created some excitement and not a little ill feeling
in Carlitle.
Pim INIETItoporxrAN FREE lIOSPITAL.—The aggre-
gate number of patients relieved during tile week ending
Aug. 28 was—medical, 725; surgical, 403; total, 1,128, of
which 505 were new cans.