The Sun.
London, England, 1835-11-11 00:00:00

7,1 c

the Dissenter, he observes, " happy shall 1 be, if
in the next Session' of Parliament I may be the
means of remedying any of the yet remaining griev-
ances by which the Dissenters of England may think
themselves oppressed ;"—but beyond this his Lord-
ship says little or nothing. Not a word escapes him re-
specting a Reform in the House of Lords, without
which he must know, full as well as we
can tell him, that there can be no hope
of efficient redress for Ireland ; no hope of
efficient redress for the Dissenters. On this vi,
tal point he is silent as the grave. Now, when
We come to reflect on the immense influence that the
Upper House exercises ; that the success of all good
Reform measures depends upon • its support or other-
wise ; is it possible that we can feel otherwise than dis-
, appointed at Lord JOHN RUSSELL'S utter silence on
the subject ? One would suppose, on reading his
speech, that there was no such thing as an unreformed
House of Legislature in existence. This omission
may have been premeditated, or it may have
been accidental, but in either case it is to be
deplored ; nor arc we -at all reconciled to it
by his Lordship's subsequent advice that we " pro-
mote Reform temperately and cautiously," for we
all know that this means little or nothing, just
as the case may happen. Temperance may mean,
" don't touch the House of Lords," and y caution,
"don't hurry on Ministers faster than they like to
go ;" or they may mean, " we will advance as far as
you please on compulsion, but not from inclination ;"
but these are not times when such sentiments, which can
cut two ways, are to be too implicitly relied on. They
may suit a PEEL Administration, but from a MEL-
BOURNE one, we expect something more definite and po-
sitive. Nevertheless, we cannot accuse Lord J. It USSEL Li
of having wholly falsified our hopes. He has said much
that we approve ; much that is worthy of his high.
character as a Reformer ; much that should do „him
service in- the Oe's 'oflthe'iieos ; -•and- at least twice
as much as Sir ROBERT PEEL could honestly have
said. Still, on the one great cardinal point to which all
eyes are just now, and have been for some time, di-
rected, hehas preserved a most emphatic silence. We.
hope the last strange, inconsistent article, on " The
House of Lords," in the Edinburgh Review, has not
had too much effect on his mind ; for if this he the
;case, we
.have everything to fear, and little or nothing
to hope.

A public dinner at Bath, on Wednesday, (this
day) is to be given to the Liberal Representatives
of that city. Mr. HUME, the Member for Middle-
sex, and other Liberal Members, are to be there. On
Saturday seven hundred dinner tickets had been dis-
posed of. We shall be curious to hear how far the
sentiments, expressed at the dinner, of the Reformers
at Bristol, on the 10th, and at Bath on the 11th, cor-
respond. At both places the numbers will be above
1,000 persons present.

The general adoption of the Railway-system, in
preference to every other mode of internal communica-
tion, is in reality no longer a matter of choice. It is
dictated by absolute necessity. Self-defence, or rather
self-preservation, that most powerful of all motives,
demands it.

When an improvement has been introduced into
any department of manufacturing industry, by which
the power of production is much increased, and the
expense at the same time greatly diminished, its partial
adoption is, in the nature of things, impossible. The
new invention forces itself into general use in spite of
all opposition, because it is found that those who use
it drive a thriving trade and grow rich, while those
who do not, lose their customers and starve. The
hand-loom was once an 'excellent machine, but it,
ceased to be so the moment the power-loom was in.
vented. It was then thrown aside, and a more perfect
instrument took its place. A few poor unfortunate
creatures, who cannot divest themselves of their old
habits, and whose ignorance and prejudices render
them objects of compassion, we have been told, still
stick to it. But what are the results ? Rags and
wretchedness.

So it is with the Railway. Not only have the en-
lightened and•enterprising portion of the community in
every part of the kingdom pronounced their approba-
tion of this improved' mode of conveyance, but the
Legislature has sanctioned, and the public have
adopted it, because it has been found to possess advan-
tages superior to every other. 'We may, therefore, smile
at the puny efforts of those who from interest or preju-
dice set themselves in opposition to the general voice.
We are not disposed to think that this voice will be
silenced even by the puissant box-proprietors, who, to
the number of not less than seven met the other day at
Epsom, under the modest style and title (if we are
not mistaken) of the Landed Gentry of the County of
Surrey, and voted Rail-roads a nuisance, because,
forsooth, it was contra bonos mores to bring a train
of carriages, loaded with plebeian lumber, " between
the wind and their nobility," heaven save the mark !
If these worthy admirers of the olden time, and its
usages, choose to lag behind the rest of the world, let
them do so. We have no objection. But we think
it is rather. too much to expect that the rest of the
world should stand still for them 1 After this we shall
really not be surprised to see the dankies disputing the
right of the high mettled racers to run on Epsom
course.

, But, to resume our gravity, which the fantastic
tricks of these would-he great personages had som e-
. what discomposed, we hail their hostility as a hopeful
sign of the times ; for what can be a clearer proof of
the wide diffusion of good sense and intelligence, than
the fact that none but some half-dozen obscure .per-
sons could be found to anathematize the greatest in],
provement of modem times. If we may judge froth the
appearances of the last feW days, this ludicrous ebul•
lition of antiquated bigotry, if it has had any effect at
all, has given a new stimulus to the enterprises,,
which it was intended to discourage. We see
•new Railway lines proposed, and some of these, too, in
the county of Surrey ! We allude to a plan adver-
tistd for the enlargement of the Grand Surrey Canal
Company, eit rattler tor its ifitidfFlutrition with another
Company, the object of which is to completgi tile in-
tention; originally cOnteiiipktted, of extending the Canal
from Deptford to Vatiklidli, and tH siteradd a Railway
along the Northern bank of the Canal.
The advantages of this line are obvious—a glance
at' a tridii tif the Metropolis will show that it is,
as it were, the string of the nrinletod Etnd irtegolar bow
formed 'by the Thames, between the extreme points
we have mentioned, riot only is the distance les-
thileS I/eh-1g
reduced to lour and a half—
but the navigation of the most crowded and dangerous
part. of the river is avoided—a consideration of no
small importance in the present increased and increas-'
without
and other craft
aistate
baardga6y9 passing
with the piers of the various bridges, with steam-
boats, ships, &c. Time is thus saved, safety ensured,
and the pressure on the river greatly relieved.
An advantage which this line presents, as a Rail-
way
line, and which appears to us one of its strongest
recommendations, is its direction with respect to other.
lines. It joins the Southampton at Vauxhall, and
crosses all tl\e other lines wllich are, or may be,
projected frorq the
metropolis. into the southern
and 'south-eastern - counties, Instead, therefore, of