The Sun.
London, England, 1866-01-27 00:00:00

THE SUN, LON_CON, SATURDAY EVENING, !UNITARY 27, 1866.

In Mr. Frere's Court (No. 16) the Maidstone and
Ashford, Rochester Docks, and London and North
Western and Midland Counties coal line passed
standing orders. The bill of the Dublin Trunk Con-
necting Railway (City extension) was adjourned un-
til Monday. In the case of the South Eastern (Lon-
don, Croydon, and Caterham Junction) Bill the
orders had not been complied with. The further
consideration of the Hyde Station, East and West
Junction (Hitchin extension), London and
Worthing Direct, Skipton and Wharfdale, and
the Brecon and Merthyr Tydfil Junction (Southern
Lines) was adjourned. The standing orders were not
complied with in the case of the Wimbledon lines.

Railway Traffic Returns for the Week,
Mlles Opened. Receipts.
Railways.
1-1865. 1864. 1865 1864

4 4
Belfast and N. Counties . 9)4 994 1,729 1.548
Belfast and County Down.... 441 4i 1 564 552
Blyth and Tyne • 35 30 1,959 2.118
Brecon and Merthyr ..... 6l . 61 1,034 803
Bristol and Exeter 1214 1215 5,384 5.341
Caledonian, Scottish Central 415/ 408 20 7uB 21.587
Cambrian
Cockermouth K & Penrlth .. 314 351
Cockermouth and Workin .. 9 9 296 382
Cork and Bandon 2O 20 333 272
Cork, Blackrock, & Passage 6l c 4 1.0 97
Cork and Youghal
Cornwall 651 655 1,424 1.33 )
Deeside l7 17 262 263
Do Extension
Dublin & Belfast J unction ... • 63 63 1,275 1.231
Dublin and Drogheda 75 75 1,397 1.231
Dublin and Meath
Dub. & Wicklow and Wextd lO5 911 2,321 0.971
Forth and Clyde Junction
Furness, &c 5O 59 3,515 2,575
Glasgow & South-Western
Gt. Eastern,Nrfk~&E.Union
Great Northern 404 401 36,373 34,944
Great North of Scotland 5B 53 1,889 1.5 0
Do Branches 42 41 1:1,060 1,0,2
(3 t. Northn. & Westn. (Irel.) 714 711 448 357
fit.Southn. & Westn.(lrlud-). • 3874 3874 8.2 4 6.915
Great Western l2BO 1270 65,895 63...84
Hull & Hornsea
Highland •.. 246 246 2,959 2,395
Irish North-Western........ 145 145 1,6 JO 1,416
Lancashire & Yorkshire...... 403 403 38.958 31.840
Limerick and Ennis... ....... 21/ 241 189 1.8
Limerick and Foynes ........ 261 264 103 92
Llanelly 461 461 512 466
Llynvi Valley
London & North-Western
London & South-Western
Lond. Brighton, &S. Coast 2931 2671 10,785 15.596
London, Chatham, & Dover; j 134 12/ 1 7,140 6.6<3
all Metropolitan Extension 112 115 1 1,950 1,575
Do. Kent Loast
Lon., Tilbury, & Southend
Man.,Sheilield.& Lincolnsh
Manch. S.Jun.&Altrincham.. 94 95 1,522 1,350
Maryport and Carlisle 2B 28 1,281 1,26)
Metropolitan
Midland (incl. N.-Western) 6775 6511 48,971 46,35
Midland Gt. Westn. of hind 2601 2601 4.232 4.162
blonmouthsh. Rail. & Canal 44 44 2,84 i 2,715
North British, Edin., Perth
_ _ .
and Dundee 7021 .6561 23,445 21.848
.. . . ....

N-Eastern and Stock. Az DarL 1206 i 1160:1 61,814 59,044
North London ll 9 4,559 2,955
North Staffordshire 258 258 8,178 7.764
Pembroke and Tenby lll 11i 8 i 58
Rhymney l9t 101 911 I,oe,
Scottish North-Eastern . . 138 138 5,6.1 5,052
Somerset and Dorset 66 66 949 722
South Devon
South-Eastern 315 306 19,983 19,827
Taff Vale 6l 61 4,811 5,689
Ulster lO5l 1051 2,5,7 2.2.-9
Vale of Ciwyd. . . lO 10 425 143
Waterford and Kilkenny 3l 31 3 8 1.01
Waterford and Limerick 77 77 1,322 1,, 83
W'haven,Cleator,& Egrmnt lO 10 587 575
FOREIGN AND COLONIAL.
Austrian B2B 823 31,803 31,963
Bahia and San Francisco
Belgian Eastern J unction 26i 261 321 316
Bombay, Baroda, &1. en. India 306 1851 10,331 2,800
Detroit and Milwaukic lB9 189 5,070• 5.110
Dutch Rhenish ion 1( 81 5,609 4,332
Eastern of France .. 15":1 1453 62,393 55,749
Eastern Bengal
•• -
East Indian
Grand Trunk of Canada 1377 1377 20 5613 22.427
Great Central of Belgium 285 261 • 6,391 1,592
Great Indian Peninsula 590 553 3,883 15,315
Great Luxembourg 134 134 4,926 4. 01
Great Southern of India
Great Western of Canada 343 315 10,665 12,409
Madras 6ll 533 8,932 6,195
Madrid, Saragossa dtAlicant 778 713 14,07 13,146
Northern of Cantina ... .....
Northern of France ... ... 724 724 57,0,7 54,882
Norwegian Trunk
Ottoman .
__
_4Bl
__4Bl - - -

Paris, Lyons. & Mediterrn 2006 1970- 130,231 116,503
Paris and Orleans lB2l 1618 68,388 56,212
Recife and San Francisco. &c. 77& 77i 1,41,0 1,004
Sc.ncle. .
Do. Punjab, .Scc 253 45 1,700 503
South Austrian, .ac .....
Southern of France 863 823 26,,24 23,076
Victoria

___
25 270 264 Welland 25
West .1L N-%l'n. of France

A Plain Talk with General Grant.

We aro glad to know that General Grant has left New
York. Not but that we deem his presence an honor to any
city, but for his own sake we rejoice that he has gone
elsewhere. Proud of him as our Lieutenant-General, ad-
miring him as the deliverer of his country, at a time when
it seemed almost doubtful whether its armies would suc-
ceed or trail their banners into the dust, reverencing him
as a moral hero in that he showed that he could be mag-
nanimous in the hour of victory as well as brave in the day
of battle, we regretted more deeply than we have the
heart to express his conduct during his stay in the metro-
polis.
We are no negro-worshippers, but there was that in
this man that could not but win our respect. There is
certainly stuff in him that heroes are made of. Less than
five years ago ho was a plain tanner fn the West, respected
by all with whom he came iu contact, beloved by those
who knew him best. To-clay his name is mentioned with
honor by the civilised world. He ranks with the com-
manders of history. Henceforth ho will be mentioned in
the same category with Napoleon, and Wellington, and
Washington, as a general who led great armies to victory
and ever stood ready to treat a vanquished foe with mag-
nanimity that only great minds are capable of. And when
he had won his labt greatest triumph and a nation was re-
joicing over the overthrow of .one of the vastest rebellions
of history, instead of entering, in the role of victory, the
city which had for four years resisted all assaults, he
quietly hastened to his office in Washington, and made
arrangements for the reduction of our armies. There was
something grand in this. What wonder, then, that the'
people regarded him with such high respect. • It would
have been a greater marvel if that measure of respect had
been withheld.

Latterly, however, his course has pained the better class
of the community. When first he left the capital and re-
ceived at every step the ovations of a grateful people, there
was reason for believing that he accepted them reluctantly,
and was simply travelling about on business connected
with his position as Lieutenant-General. But since then
he has been on other tours, and lately has paid a visit of
several days' duration to tho metropolis. This was well
enough in itself, but there were incidents connected with
it which do him no credit. 'lt would have been well for
him, well for the position which he fills so ably, and well
for the country which holds him in such high esteem, if
the daily press had not recounted them to the public.
Would; that he had possessed one true friend to dissuade
him from yielding to the allurements which were so
adroitly placed before him. But he yielded, and the
scandal has ere this coursed along the electric wires
throughout the length and breadth of the land.
Who were the men with whom. Lieutenant-General
Grant consorted during his stay in New York? Pro-
minent among them was one Geo. Wilkes, a notorious
"sporting man," and editor of a so-called "sporting" paper
published in this city. This is the person who, a few
years since, went to England as the champion of a
low fellow by the name of Heenan, and backed him in
his fight with an equally low fellow named Tom Sayers.
The last mentioned person has never been in this country
that we aro aware of, and as for Heenan and Wilkes, we
are sure that neither of them ever gained admittance into
the society of gentlemen, still less of ladies. Concerning
Wilkes, we have never heard a word against his personal
character.

All we know or care to know about him is, that he is
not a person of whose acquaintance a true gentleman
would venture to boast. We hear of him as figuring at
prize-fights, billiard matches, and horse-races, rather than
in the society of the intelligent and refined. Yet this
is the man with whom Lieutenant - General Grant
went out to ride. Together they viewed a display of
what a daily paper terms " the crack horse flesh of the
vicinity." The prominent sporting men of the city, we
learn from the same paper, were present, as might be ex-
pected. Reading of this we instinctively recur to Washing-
ton, and wonder if he would have lowered himself so far
as to consort with the leading "sporting men" of his day,
and with the " crack horse flesh of the vicinity." We
think of Lieutenant-General Grant's honored predecessor
in office, and ask if the venerable Winfield Scott would
accompany such a man as George Wilkes to a popular
race track to see a lot of horse-jockeys show off a pack of
race horses. We recall the name of Abraham Lincoln, and
resent as a personal affront the thought that, with all his
peculiarities, ho would have allowed himself to be chaper-
oned about New York by a "leading sporting man." We
are not unmindful of the fact that a public man is, by
virtue of his office, oftimes compelled to meet those whom
he would spurn in private. We make all due allowance
for the persistency with which persons of low associations
will foist themselves upon their betters ; but we are un-
able to excuse the Lieutenant-General of the United States
for meeting, on terms of familiarity, men who have yet
to cross the threshold of decent society. Those who
seek his society are not to blame. Dogs will follow men,
and show signs of delight at the recognition of their
presence. The responsibility attaches to the men, not to
the curs. So it is as regards the human species. A man
is known by the company he keeps, and he who consorts
with characters whom good society eschews must expect
to be judged accordingly.
We speak thus plainly because of the high esteem in
which, in common with the American people, we hold
General Grant. The country owes him a debt, for the
payment of which no emolument that it can offer him is
too great. But he owes it to himself, to the country, and
to his high position, to keep at a respectful distance the
men •whom he has allowed to associate with him in this
city on terms of such familiarity. True, ours is a Demo-
cratic Government, but that is no reason why a proper
degree of respect should not be paid to our rulers on the one
Land, and the rulers on the other, should not maintain the