The Sun.
London, England, 1835-12-19 00:00:00

NEW IILAIL COACHES.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
SIR,—As you haVe long taken. an interest in Post Oft co
reformation, I beg to make the following communication do
your alpmr s.
I have ~insticetsd the new mail coaches built by Mr.
Croal of Liinburgh, one of the contractors for the northern
district, and found. them -all excellent, commodious descrip-
tion or carriage. The body is considerably larger than that
of the present mail coach, and will,itberefore, contribute,
greatly to the comfort and safety of the passengers, both
inside and out. The boot ;s also larger than in the present
mails ; while the mail boot, properly so called—that is where
the mail bags are carried—is of a size and shape which will
insure the safety of the bags containing letters, as well as
those containing newspapers, which is by no means the case
with the latter, when placed, as they must be, on the top
of the mail coaches presently in use. In short, I could
plainly see, and did so with unfeigned pleasure, that the
• abolition of the odious tax on newspapers must have been
in the eye of the Post Office Commissioners when they de-:
cided on this part of the forthcoming mail coaches ; for, al-
though I have only seen those built in Edinburgh, it must
be understood that the whole mail coaches in Great Britain
will be precisely the same in every respect, and in all their
dilmnsions.
The ca!'riage on which the body is hung is strong and
substantial ; a:,(1 the whole appealance is such as to satisfy
ma of the skill au,-.? good taste of the Commissioners whtt
selected the model, ac;carding to which the coaches arc

made.
On the fifth day of January all the :oads in Great Bri-
tain will have ►
these coaches plying along ,:_hem. The sea-
son is an unfavourable one for' the commem:ement of so
vast an undertaking ; but this could not be avois,:ed, for, by
the Parliamentary Report,4 observe the Post OffiCe Com-
missioners hod no alternative but submit to the unrezkse
demand of Mr. Vidler, the present contractor, or :tioldle
y
face the difficulty. To choose does not appear to have cost
nabl
them much consideration. They decided oh not being
brow-beaten ; and it will now be the duty of a British pub-
lie to afford them every support in this their first great
undertaking.
I need not tell you, Sir, there are two parties to the
conducting of every kind of public carriage, the mail in-
cluded, but in very different degrees. In all but mails the
same parties have an interest in both carriage and horses.
Not so with mails. the horse contractors have nothing
whatever to do with the mail coach ; and as these parties
have all been selected by the present dynasty, and must
very soon come under the inquiry now making by the Post
Office Commissioners, and may not be very fond of the
innovating scrutiny which we Reformers insist for, it will
be the duty of the public, and more especially of passengers
travelling by mails, on and after the sth January, to pay
particular attention to the facts and circumstances, in any
ease of delay or accidents to mail coaches.
New coaches are liable to various little accidents, to
which they arc not subject after even a few days' work.
The whole mail coaches will be new on the sth January ;
and they must be dealt with cautiously, and be carefully at-
tended to, instead of being recklessly hurried on at all
hazards, should any little matter occur to require it.
It is well known that the capital scene, representing a
clergyman reprimanding a coachman for swearing, took place
on one of his Majesty's mails. I allude to that exhibited
in a print, under the significant title of " Job's Patience ; or
Three Blind uns and a Bolter," no uncommon occurrence
now-a-days, I believe, with mail coaches ; they being at such
a discount at present with all travellers, but old women,
that all the " Blind uns" and "Bolters" can find employ-
ment in them.*
I believe that the new mail coaches will be found much
more comfortable and commodious than the present, both
inside and out. I believe, in addition to the saving on thee*
of upwards of 12,000/. a year, something very handsome
will be got on a new contract for horsing them ; besides
which we may get rid of the " blind uns and bolters," and
have the changes at each stage made as rapidly as their
betters do at present in the stelje coaching line. I would
therefore earnestly impress on the );,üblic to keep their eyes
and cars open as to the new mail Coaches, on and about
the sth January, so as to assist in laying
the saddle on the
right horse, if any attempt is made to cry
down this fii?t
and meritorious act of the Post Office dorn.voissionors,
putting an end to a monopoly no less absurd than extra-

vaunt.
Mr. Croal of Edinburgh is to exhibit thirty to for.t,Y
coaches, with their teams, on New Year's Day, in Oat
City. It will be a novel and imposing sight, even as
pageant ; but when contemplated as the first breach in a loci"
hidden and well secured system of Tory extravagance,
waste, and monopoly, it will not fail to gratify the many
thousands of excellent Reformers, who will witness the
scene in Edinburgh and in Leith, as New Years' Day. is
always kept as a merry holiday in Scotland, every one being
on the tiptoe of jollity and happiness. lam invited to take
a seat in one of the coaches. I shall do so, in the full con-
viction that their wheels will be well greased, (as will be
those of the English contractors,) and none of them will
take fire through any fault of theirs, althoogh 1 know right
well that not one farthing of the grease mpney, which at
this very moment is costing this country somewhat more
than 2,300/. a year,- has been allowed to come nearer to
their wheels than the inside of the walls of St. Martin's-le-

Grand.
In the hope that the periodical Press will invite the
public to watch over the initiatory journeys-of those vehicles,
which I believe in my conscience arc destined to convey to
the people, along with many other advantages, at an early
day, that which they have so long moved for--untaxed
knowledge,

I remain, Sir,
Your very obedient servant,
Kelly, Dec. 12, 1835. ROBERT WALLACE.
* In alluding to the class of horses to be found in mails, it
is to be understood there are many local exceptions. At manY
stages mails are capitally horsed, and the changes made quickly ;
but still there will be very many found of a different descrip-
tion. They are all equally well paid—there should be no more
" blind uns and bolters" in thcm than in the best stage coaches ;
and neither will there be, whet: an end is put to favouritisin
and jobbing in every department of St. Martin's-le-Grand.
fi By the Parliamentary Return, /sic.. 294, for which I moved,
it appears that the enormous sum of 23,376/. 16s. Bd. is charged
by the Post Office against the public, as having been paid to
Mr. Vidler, the present contractor, in the .last ten years —for
oiling and greasing his own coaches ! that is, z 337/. a year en
an average. The 4th day of next January will be the last of
this tit-bit.

WHAT DO THE IRISH WANT?

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN. ,
SIR—I devoted my two last letters to Continental affairs
I turn now to those of IRELANDnobIe, suffering, beautiful
IRELAND, where the minutest thing attached to its actuia
state calls our undivided attention, and claims our warmest
interest. We hear a great deal about' British hospitality,
British generosity, and so forth ; yet if' we do not bestir
ourselves a little more in the cause of the Irish PEorLg--*
en masse—our charity towards a handful:Of individuals will
look extremely suspicious, and, most undoubtedly, will not
save us from the imputation of wilful neglect and thorough
heartlessness. If the foreigner augOrs well of our country
from the gentlemen's seats, the pretty villages, and nent
cottages of the peasantry, with their smoking chimnies win
well kept little gardens, all betokening ease and a certain
comfort and respectability, let him cross over to IRELOP
and nauseate—if his soul be not dead within him—at the
sight of untenanted castles, mud hovels, and a population,
in rags feeding on potatoes or sea weed ! There is a fan
magnificent to a proverb, divided into four large fertile pro"
vinces, and inhabited by six millions of brave:kind-hearte tide
clever, affectionately disposed people : possessing all e
riches that a naturally lively and happy mind can bestow'
Why, why, then, do so many of our fellow countrymen
for they are not " FOREIGNERS"—rise daily from their be°
of straw, without knowing where to get food for the scanty
demands of nature ? Why are thousands at this present
moment " wandering on a foreign strand," burning to retu,r°
home, be it only to t'breathe their last, and yet have not ton
means of gratifying even this melancholy desire ? Why iS
GREAT BRITAIN'S right arm shrunk up " like a svithero
shrub," and marrowless, when all her other limbs are he'
coming healthier and more vigorous ? It is not because
they are without the pale of any particular Church that th
sons of ERIN are reduced to such extremities ; but becanset
THEY ARE WITHOUT BREAD ! BREAD ! BREAD ! iS stai
they want. How, where to obtain it, is the one dread it,',
thought that maddens and haunts the anxious father at ant
hours of the day and night ;,it is WANT, " the trier o'
spirits," that blasts the buoyancy of youth, and wrings tha
scalding tear of despair from the broken-hearted mother.
as she sings lullaby to her starving babe, and endeavours 1:1
stop those piercing cries which will soon, however, be 110116,,
in eternal repose. Hear this, ye ministers of the-GosPeji.
who are deputed to relieve the distresses of all men .r
this, all ye who subscribe your money to convert eitisti
th
tant African, and look nearer home ! Hear this, Br
benevolence, and turn pale at the hollow moan of deny
benevolence,
imploring a morsel of bread! Hear this, ye happy Bri
mothers ! who at this season of the year arc surrounded nY
your beloved children, and bid them remember as they
dance along—
" How many pine in want, and dungeon Blooms ;
Shut from the common air, and common use
Of their own limbs. How many drink the cup
Of baleful grief, or eat the bitter bread
Of misery. Sore pierc'd by wintry winds,
How many shririk into the sordid hut
Of cheerls overty."
"'t," se thoughts w pill dilate our charity, and call forth the
• • in English . bosoms,. is ever promptly'
no theory requirnig:
tha•

gperotls sigh wnwi,,
followed by acts o,f 1.11044100, nut'. "'.
the support of subtle argument ; but plain bare Tay,— - , 6
curdle the blOod. Oh P
it is a cruel mockery of juc, =
a rank offence; and one that smells to heaven, for a pare