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

Railway Traffic Returns for the Week,
Niles Opened. Receipts.
It al lway s.
1865.

1864. 1865 1864

Belfast and N. Counties . 9)1
Belfast and County Down.... 441
Blyth and Tyne - 36
Brecon and Merthyr
Bristol and Exeter l2ll
Caledonian, Scottish Central 4lsk
Cambrian l3O
Cock ermoutti K dc Penrlth
Cockermouth and Workin
Cork and Bandon 2O
Cork, Blackrock, & Passage 6l
Cork and Youghal
Cornwall 651
Deeside l7
Do Extension
Dublin & Belfast Junction.... 63
Dublin and Drogheda 75
Dublin, and 51eath
Dub. & Wicklow and Wextd lO6
Forth and Clyde Junction
Furness, dm 5O
Glasgow & South-Western
Gt. Eastern,Nrik.,&E.Union
Great Northern 404
Great North of Scotland 5B

£ £
991 1,729 1.548
44 564 552
36 1,953 2,118
61 1,034 895
1211 5,384 5,311
408 26.708 21.587
121 1,900 1,772

351
9 296 3d2
20 333 %72
_ft 126 97
_ .

32i 489 434
65i 1,424 1.33 )
17 262 268
87 85
63 1,275 1.231
75 1,397 1.23'
35 278 265
91 t 2,321 0,971
30 252 261
5J 3,515 2.575
5:49 9,199 8,613
6682 31,153 3 t 131
40i 36,373 34,944
53 1,599 1.5 d

Do Branches 42
t. Northn. & Westn. (Irel.) 7ll
7t.Southn. & Westn.(lrlnd.) 3871
Great Western l2BO
Hull & Hornsea
Highland
Irish North-Western 145
Lancashire & Yorkshire 403
Limerick and Ennis..... 241
Limerick and Foynes
Llanelly 46
Llynvi Valley
London & North-Western
London & South-Western
Lond. Brighton, &8. Coast 293.
London, Chatham, dz Dover; 134
all Metropolitan Extension f 12
Do. Kent t oast
Lon., Tilbury, & Southend
Slan.,Slieffield, & Lincolnsh
lanch. S.J un.& A ltrincham Vi
Maryport and Carlisle 2B
Metropolitan
Midland (incl. N.-Western) 6774
Midland Gt. Westn. of hind.
Monmouthsh. Itail. & Canal 44
North British, Edin., Perth

4! I:1,060 1,012
71/ 448 357
387} 8,2 4 6.975
1270 65.895 63, 84
13 103 89
246 2,959 2,396
145 1,6 0 1,416
403 38,958 31,840
114
lag I=B
103 92

4432 612 466
20t 442 425
1273} 101,106 95,579
MI 20,816 18,414
2671 16,785 15,596
127 7,140 6.6.43
11 j 1,950 1,575
27 560 630
42t 995 1,030
246 21,108 18,50)
Qj 1,522 1,300
28 1,267 1,261

31 3,7±7 2,536
6511 48,97/ 46.3 5
2601 4,232 4,162
44 2,84 2,715

and Dundee
N-Eastern and Stock. & Dart 12061 1160 k 61,814 59,1`4§
North London ll 9 4,569 2.955
North Staffordshire 258 258 8,178 7.764
Pembroke and Tenby ll4 114 8i 58
Rh yuiney
Scottish North-Eastern l3B 138 5,6.1 5,052
Somerset and Dorset 66 66 949 722
South Devon - 3,283
South-Eastern 315 306 1.1,981 19,827
Taff Vale 6l 61 4,811 5,689
Ulster Los 105/ 2,5.7 2.2 9
Vale of Clwyd • ...
Waterford and Kilkenny 3l 31 3 8 'OOl
‘Vaterford and Limerick 77 77 1,322 1,185
Whaveli,Cleator,& Egrmnt lO 10 687 575
FOREIGN AND COLONIAL.
•I.ustrian B2B 826 34,803 31,963
Bahia and San Francisco
Belgian Eastern Junction.- 264 26. 324 3.6
Bombay, Baroda, & i en. India 306 1851 t 0,3 i 1 2,800
Detroit and Milwaukic lB9 186 5,070 5, tlO
Dutch Rhenish
Easttan 01 franca ... 15,1 1483 62,393 55,749
Eastern Bengal ......... ..... 110 1t 0 - -
East Indian
Grand 'trunk of Canada 1377 1.77 20 564 22,427
Great Central of Belgium 285 261 6,391 0,592
Great ludlan Peninsula 590 553 3 ~883 15,315
Great Luxembourg
Great Southern of India .
Great Western of Canada,,., 343 315 10,665 12.41,9
Madras
Ma. lrid, Saragossa &Aiicant 778 713 14,1 07 13,_46
Northern of Canaan ...„, 94 91 1,137 1,411
Northern of France 724 724 57,0 7 54,882
Norwegian Truuk
Ottoman -
Paris, Lyons, & Mediterrn 2006 197 , 13 ,231 116803
Paris and Orleans.
Recife and San Francisco. &c 774 774 1,1, 0 1,004
Sc nde. , lO5 105 1,8:7 2,1'49
Do. Bunjab, •tc 253 45 1,;00 5'.3
South Austrian, &c 1653 1527 53 242 49,740
Southern of France 663 823 26,-24 23,076
Victoria
Welland
West 6c N- Wu. of France

A Plain Talk with General Grant.

We are 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 ho 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 ho 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 thero 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 he was a plain tanner fn the West, respected
by all with whom he came in contact, beloved by those
who knew him best. To-day his namo is mentioned with
honor by the civilised world. He ranks with the com-
manders of history. Ilenoeforth he 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
ho had won his last 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 the metropolis.
.This wag well
enough in itself, but there were incidents connected with
it which do him no credit. It 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
his fight with an equally low fellow named Tom Sayers.
low fellow by the name of Heenan, and backed him in
The last mentioned person has never been in this country
that we are 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." Tha 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, he 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
ho 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 ho 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 notbe paid to our rulers on the one'
band, and the rulers ou the other, should not maintain the